


Me-Gumi

by LeoLiddy, NightWings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Lion is protective, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Keith has trust issues, Lance's family - Freeform, Langst, Minor Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Keith/Lance (Voltron), Minor Klance, Nightmares, Paladin's adopt a pet, Pidge's family issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sentient Lions, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-10-06 02:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10323641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoLiddy/pseuds/LeoLiddy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightWings/pseuds/NightWings
Summary: Discovering an exotic Zoo where the Galra would keep any rare creatures from the worlds they conquered, the Paladins make their way to free the creatures from their prison.Little did they know that they would gain an unexpected passenger from their little trip.





	1. The Champion of Paraden

**Author's Note:**

> *In case you are wondering, it's pronounced "Meh-Gumi" or Megumi like the name.
> 
> Liddy and I decided to have a bit of fun with this so we hope you enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discovering an exotic Zoo where the Galra would keep any rare creatures from the worlds they conquered, the Paladins make their way to free the creatures from their prison.Little did they know that they would gain an unexpected passenger from their little trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *In case you are wondering, it's pronounced "Meh-Gumi" or Megumi like the name.
> 
> Liddy and I decided to have a bit of fun with this so we hope you enjoy!

_::Remember Team, Paraden is a planet that houses many rare animals in its jungles. Try damage as little of the planet as possible. Aim right for the structures! Pidge, Hunk! You guys start freeing the animals and disabling the traps! Keith, Lance! We’ll be providing cover fire!::_  Shiro commanded through the Lions. “Time to shut this zoo down! Let’s GO!”

  ** _“YEAH!!!”_ **  cheered the other Paladins as they all flew off in different directions.

 “Activating stealth mode,” Pidge commanded her Lion as Green instantly turned invisible, running into the jungles, to deactivate the various traps while Hunk ran to the enclosures, taking down the plasma fences.

 It didn’t take long for Galra sentries and soldiers to appear as they began blasting at the lions.

 The Red, Blue and Black Lions weaved through the air, evading the cannons blasting at them.

  _::Hey Keith! I got an idea! Use your fire blast!::_

  _::Are you nuts, Lance?! The last thing we need is a forest fire!::_

  _:Just trust me!::_

  _::Ok, fine! But this plan better work!::_

  _::On my count! 3! 2! 1!::_

 On cue, Keith activated his flamethrower while Lance activated his Ice blaster the exact same time, aiming straight for the fire blast. A huge cloud instantly erupted the moment the two blasts collided covering the ground with a dense fog.

 “Let’s see them try to spot us now!” smirked Lance.

  _::Good job, Lance! Let’s take’em out!!::_ complimented Shiro, flying in.

  _:: See told you I have good ideas that work.::_

  _::Okay so you do get a good idea every once in a blue moon,::_

  _:: Hey!::_

  _::_ **_Focus you two,_ ** _use the fog as long as it lasts and create more if necessary but move fast you two::_

The red and blue lion disappeared into the fog using it to take out the cannons while Pidge and Hunk were freeing the animals and taking care of the Galra that were on the ground. Luckily there weren't that big a fleet here on the planet but it was enough that it needed all five lions to take care of the forces.

Pidge took out one more tower that controlled the electric fences that kept the animals caged in as Hunk got rid of the rest of the sentries that were stationed there while the animals all stampeded out to freedom.

:: _Allura all the towers are disabled!::_

_::I took care of the last cannon so we’re good up here!::_

_::Alright Paladins everyone land and we’ll try to separate the animals, please do not go near them until Coran and Pidge have properly scanned them to see if they're dangerous or not.::_

_::Understood princess.::_

The castleship and the lions landed in the open area as the Paladins and the Alteans came out to get a better look at the zoo.

“You know the Galra for all their scary intents and purposes kinda seems odd to have a zoo of all things,” Hunk said as they walked through the facility.

“It was probably some research facility for creatures from the planets they conquered and sold as pets or even food...never know with all the aliens that are in the universe,” Pidge said frowning.

“Can we not think of the Galra eating something that we’re trying to save?” Lance asked “ I want to see what kind of animals this planet has that made them want to build this place anyway.”

“Paraden has always been a safe haven to rare creatures big and small, plenty of poachers have attempted to pillage this beautiful planet of it’s wildlife,” explained Coran watching the remaining animals scatter when suddenly a creature that looked like a small blue mongoose with horns, six legs, orange stripes and an orange mustache climbed up on his shoulder much to the Advisor’s surprise as he twitched his mustache.

The little creature twitched it’s own mustache in turn before speeding off.

The Paladins and Allura were already ways ahead  exploring the place, leaving Coran to panic and run after them.

Unknown to the group, a large creature had slinked into the castle.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Colorful exotic birds flew past them into freedom making Allura smile as one of the birds landed on her finger.

 “How could anyone want to cage these beautiful creatures~” cooed Allura stroking the bird’s breast before it flew away.

 “I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re Galran,” huffed Lance in distaste.

“Humans aren’t that different either though…”pointed out Keith making the Blue Paladin glance at him before hanging his head in admission.

“Oh...right…”

The group continued to walk on until they found what looked to be like a laboratory mixed with a surgical room.

The preserved organs floating in giant tubes gave the the group a pretty good idea what the Galra were doing.

“Hey guys check this out!” called Pidge as the others raced over to her.

Allura gasped and covered her mouth while everyone looked in horror.

Holding cells. Each one containing animals that were clearly moaning pitifully. Most of them looked so weak that they were on the verge of death.

Allura ran over to one of the larger cells where a beast that looked like a cross between a buffalo and bear lay on it’s side, breathing shallowly as she opened the cell and went inside, kneeling beside the beast.

“I know this creature...it’s an Ursox...they are one of the most gentlest creature of Paraden! How could they do this…?” sobbed the princess, leaning her head against the Ursox’s body as it slowly breathed it’s last breath.

The others all bowed their heads sadly as Coran walked up and studied the creature, noting the multiple scars riddling it’s body. Suddenly his face turned hard as he clenched his fists before he turned and checked the other cages, finding other animals in similar conditions.

Coran released an angry growl as he hit a wall with his fist. “Those barbarians….these animals all have battle wounds and signs of drugging...they were making these creatures fight each other!”

The others kept silent, showing varying degrees of disgust and horror.

“So what do we do with them?” asked Hunk quietly.

Coran sighed in heavy regret. “We can’t...It’s too late for these creatures…., the least we could do is open their confinements and leave them…”

The Paladins looked at each other and nodded as they all went to destroy the locks on the cages.

While doing so, Shiro stopped in front of a giant holding cell was splattered with all sorts of blood, whether animal or Galra he wasn’t sure. It was empty, and the door looked like it was busted open viciously. Unlike the other cells, it looked like the creature the cell contained was more or less cared for better than the rest, which reminded him of a familiar setting when he was made to battle in the gladiator ring.

Battered creatures, one treated ways better above the rest...Shiro didn’t take long to guess that he was in the cage of the Champion.

“Whoa…..” went Keith stepping in the cell and looking around. “What do you think happened here?”

“I’m guessing, whatever was in here, must have escaped during the commotion,” deduced Shiro sullenly. “This creature was big...real big…”

“I’d hate to go up against this monster…” shuddered Keith at the thought as the two Paladins decided to make their way out.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group came back to castle, slightly shaken at their dark discovery.

“Where to now princess?” asked Shiro looking at the Altean who exhaled slowly.

“We keep moving...it won’t be long before Zarkon will track us again….when he does, we should be far, **_FAR_ ** away from here….” said Allura entering some coordinates into the castle system, opening a wormhole as the castle ship sped off into it, not realizing that hidden deep in the castle, they were carrying one extra passenger as the creatures wild red eyes glowed in the darkness while panting heavily.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Begin training level four!” Keith panted out heavily as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was late past the time when everyone went to sleep, Keith just couldn't stay asleep after what he saw. He knew the Galra weren't kind creatures but just see those creatures have to go through what Shiro went through made him feel frustrated.

The training droid dropped and Keith let out a cry as he charged forward and slashed at the bot. It defenses but Keith was pushing it back and then raised his own blade to block an attack. He had been training for hours and could feel the exhaustion settling in but was pushing past it. Just as he was about to make another go at the droid a voice froze Keith where he was.

**_Keith…._ **

Swerving around he saw the training doors just about to close but he saw the distinct tall tawny haired man walking by to Keith’s shocked.

“ _Dad…?”_ Keith murmured before a shock of pain in his side broke his thoughts.

“Shit!”

Dashing forward ignoring the pain he stabbed the droid through the front ending the training. He glanced at his side and saw that the bot’s blade left a gash in his side but it wasn't life threatening. Disarming his bayard he ran out down the hall looking for someone he hadn't seen since he left all those years ago.

Something zipped out from the corner of his eye, prompting Keith to turn just in time to see his his father’s retreating figure.

 _‘It can’t be...It can’t be him...but then..who.._ **_what_ ** _was that?’_

_\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Lance was tossing and turning heavily in his sleep.

_In his dream, he was flying in the Blue Lion having the time of his life, blasting the bad guys and saving the day, the crowds cheering for him below he landed and emerged from his lion as Allura suddenly ran up and threw her arms around his neck._

_“Oh Lance~ My brave, brave hero~!” she said planting a big kiss on his cheek._

_“You always were more talented than me Lance, and so much more good looking~” complemented Keith dramatically despairing and looking frustrated._

_“You are so cool Lance!” Pidge exclaimed looking at him with sparkly eyes._

_“You are number one!” Hunk chimed in._

_“I would follow you anywhere brave Paladin!” Coran exclaimed waving a flag with Lance’s face on it._

_Shiro thumped Lance on the back with a smile. “You should lead Voltron instead of me~!”_

_Lance smugly smiled and puffed out his chest proudly as the group lifted him up on their shoulders and tossed him up and down chanting his name._

_“LANCE~! LANCE~! LANCE~!”_

_Lance was having the time of his life when suddenly the Blue Lion knocked him out of the air pushed him to ground, growling menacingly._

_“Blue? Wha-?!”_

**_“I have no use for a weak Paladin like you!”_ ** _the Lion growled before she turned around and walked away._

_“Blue!” yelled Lance getting when suddenly he sees the team looking at him with condescending looks._

**_“You are so annoying Lance, why the Blue Lion chose an idiot like you is beyond me…”_ ** _Allura sneered._

 **_“Did you really think you are worth being my rival? Puh-lease! You only became a fighter pilot because I left the Garrison...”_ ** _Keith scoffed mockingly._

 _Pidge cleaned her ear with a bored expression._ **_“Honestly why are you even here? What have you actually contributed to this team you cocky ass bastard?!”_ **

**_“I only became friends with you because you were always pathetically lonely….”_ ** _Hunk said with an unimpressed look, folding his arms._

 _Lance slowly looked to Shiro who looked at him with such a look of disappointment and shook his head._ **_“You are such a deadweight…”_ **

_Every word spoken stabbed Lance painfully through his chest as he watched everyone including his lion turn back on him and walk away._

_“Guys...YOU GUYS!!!”_

**_*GASP!!*_ **

Lance woke up with a start, sitting up in his bed. His vision was blurry as the voices in his dream continued ringing in his head. Lance clutched his head as hot tears came flowing down his cheeks as he cried silently.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith was passing by the rooms where he and the other Paladins slept, it was where he thought he saw his dad saw last. Keith growled frustrated, he knew logically here was no way for his dad if all people to be in space, but then again it had been nearly a decade since he last saw him.

Looking down the hall he didn't see anything and clenched his fists tightly, as he tried to calm down.

“Something is going on.” He muttered to himself as he continued down the hall his boots echoed around him. Just as he was passing by Lance’s room and check his own he stopped.

It was faint since the doors were rather thick but he thought he heard noises coming from the blue paladin’s room. He stood in front of Lance’s door debating on knocking or just continuing his search for his ‘dad’. Weighing his options he had his hand already raised and knocked softly before his mind could come to a decision.

“Lance?” Keith asked unsurely, as despite him and Lance always arguing he did worry for the other teen.

He heard some quick movement on the other side before he knocked again and Lance answered the door, and Keith only looked more concerned.

Lance’s eyes were red as his blue lion pajamas look disheveled as he wiped his eyes quickly.

“Uh hey are you okay?” Keith asked rather lamely as he mentally berated himself.Of course he's not alright while person who was okay had red eyes and looking like they had been crying?

“What? Psh.. Yeah! I’m better than okay!” said Lance defensively. “Why wouldn't I be?!”

“Lance…”

“And what are **_you_ ** doing?!” demanded Lance turning the conversation around.

“Something's in the castle… And whatever it is, it's fast…”

Lance quirked an eyebrow at his teammate unsurely. “Uh, are you sure you didn't over train yourself so now your brain is just imagining things?”

Keith glared at Lance in annoyance."I know what I saw!” hissed Keith. “Now come on!”

Since Lance was still too unnerved to sleep he quickly grabbed his bayard and followed after Keith wordlessly.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hunk was shuffling sleepily into kitchen, his tummy rumbling for some food as he began searching the pantries for something to munch on.

While searching, Hunk didn't realize the white figure that breezed by behind him, although he did shudder as chill went his spine.

“Brrr… sure is chilly at this hour..." muttered Hunk to himself when he suddenly smelt something yummy and familiar making his mouth water.

Suddenly, Hunk turned around and saw a whole plate of roast turkey just sitting right there on the counter. Hunk didn't even question the logic as his rumbling stomach was apparently louder than the little voice inside him telling him to wake up.

“Come to Hunky~!” the yellow Paladin  greedily  said, his eyes lighting up as he made a grab for the plate, only to have it slide away from him.

“Hey!” he exclaimed making a grab for the turkey again, once more sliding out of his grasp.

This continued several more times before his stomach growled even louder wanting sustenance.

“Okay turkey you are going to be eaten one way or another!” Hunk growled as the large bird almost seemed to mock him.

Hunk narrowed his eyes as he rolled up his sleeves of his pajamas and crouched onto the floor crawling on his belly. He sneakily moved towards the counter where he could practically taste turkey. Then he attacked.

“ **I got you now!”**

He jumped up and tried tackling the turkey but all of a sudden the bird just flew off of the counter with Hunk after it as he slid onto the counter chasing after it. His fingers were just about to brush against it he ran out of counter just as the turkey disappeared and flew into Keith and Lance who had ran into the kitchen when they heard the noise.

“Hunk...buddy...are you sleepwalking again?” Lance groaned rubbing his head.

“Mind getting off of us Hunk?” Keith grimaced feeling his wound start to ache again since he had been ignoring it. ‘What were you doing anyway?”

“You guys didn't see the turkey!?” Hunk exclaimed as he got off of the other two Paladins. 

Keith and Lance exchanged glances before giving Hunk weird looks.

“Hunk, we haven’t had any Earth food in **months** , just **_why_ ** would there be a whole turkey on the ship?”

Hunk blinked a few times as the other two waited for his brain to register.

***Tick-tick-tick- BING!***

“Oooooooooooh……” went Hunk in realization.

Keith perked his head up hearing running footsteps echoing away from them. “COME ON! It’s getting away!” he exclaimed as he and Lance scrambled after it.

Hunk also got up and ran behind them. “Wait? What’s getting away?!”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge was busy in the workshop analyzing more of the Galran data she had collected from the facility in hopes for some clues regarding their activities when sensed a cool breeze whisp past her.

The girl shivered a bit when she heard footsteps. 

**_Katie….Katie…._ **

Pidge quickly looked up and looked around.

“Dad?...Matt?...” she whispered as she got up, following the voices. 

**_Help us Katie…._ **

**_Save us Sis….._ **

“Wait...Wait!!” cried the girl picking up her pace as she started running after the voices.

Her surroundings grew dark but she didn’t noticed. Where were the voices coming from?

All of a sudden fear gripped her making Pidge turn around to see known other than Haxus sneering at her.

Pidge jumped back in shock. “Haxus...No..you’re supposed to be dead!”

 **_“Foolish child! As if I could be killed by the likes of your kind!”_ **  snarled Haxus lunging at her.

Pidge quickly leapt aside dodging, her hand finding a screw driver having left her bayard back with her suit. Quickly, Pidge ran for her life as Haxus gave chase.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey I thought I heard Pidge screaming!” Lance said grabbing the back of Keith’s jacket making Hunk stop as well, he grabbed a bowl of food goo before he left determined to eat something before he left the kitchen.

“She was in one of the workshops! I was helping her with some translating some things before I got too exhausted and decided to turn in,” Hunk said as he lead the other two down another hallway and towards the workshops that he and Pidge usually work in.

To say that they ran into Pidge would be an understatement. Something was wrong as she looked like something was chasing her.

Pidge stopped in her tracks as she looked at them with eyes of fear.

More Galra soldiers?! How did they infiltrate the castle?! She had to warn everybody!!

Lance reached out to Pidge when the girl screamed and lunged at Lance with the screwdriver prompting to yank him back.

“Keith! What the hell was that for!?” Lance growled as Keith still had a tight grip on the back of Lance’s pajamas.

“She nearly got you with a screwdriver!” Keith retorted making the blue paladin snap his head towards the small girl who was suddenly holding the screwdriver like it was her bayard.

“Pidge! Whoa calm down!” Hunk said putting down his food as he raised his hands up to show he had nothing in his hands. ”It’s just us! You know, Lance, Hunk and Keith? Your friends that form Voltron?” Hunk tried before he yelped and scooted back as Pidge growled at him like he was the enemy.

“I don’t know how you Galra got on the ship but I won’t let you hurt my friends!” Pidge declared making the trio look worriedly at her as she brandished the screwdriver menacingly.

It was then they noticed how hazy her eyes looked, as if she was under some sort of hypnotism.

In Pidge’s vision, it looked like the Galra were advancing on her  as she backed up into a wall.

“Pidge….it’s us…” Keith tried to call out gently but only prompted Pidge to rush forward, with her makeshift weapon.

Keith quickly stepped out of the way as he grabbed Pidge’s wrist and twisted it, causing her to drop the tool.

“Sorry Pidge!” apologized Keith as he tossed her to Hunk who caught her in a big bear hug.

“Let me go! Let me go!!!” cried the Green Paladin furiously as she struggled in Hunk’s arms while Lance grabbed her legs.

“PIDGE! SNAP OUT OF I- _ **ACK!!!**_ ”yelled Lance as he was hit in the chin by her foot.

“I said...Let GOO!!!!!” growled Pidge, winging her leg down as hard as possible.

 _ **“OOOHOOHOO!!”**_ squealed Hunk in pain as soon as Pidge’s foot made contact with its target, causing Hunk to let go of her, allowing Pidge to run off into the darkness while doubled over clutching his gonads. “My tenders….”

Keith and Lance both winced as they look at their friend in pity.

“You guys go on ahead….I’ll catch up…” whined Hunk tearfully.

“You sure?” Keith asked worried and Hunk nodded.

“I can recover but the way Pidge is she who knows what could happen if Shiro is doing his night patrols or Coran is repairing something in the ship.”

“That's a good point we don't know how effective defensive moves Coran tried to use work against Pidge,” Lance commented dryly and Keith had to turn his head to stop Lance from seeing him laughing recalling when Coran first woke up how he tried attacking them.

Despite Keith trying to keep a straight face, Lance managed to see the corner of Keith’s smile which made him feel rather accomplished.

“Anyway we better hurry in the state that Pidge is in, Hunk is right the last thing we need is for her to run into Shiro or Coran and try to hurt them.” Keith said as they picked up the pace disappearing down the dark hallways in hopes of catching the green paladin.

“Still what’s making everyone act so weird? Hunk with the turkey, Pidge with seeing us as an enemy, did you see something Keith?” Lance asked as they ran.

He noticed Keith stiffen but the Red Paladin kept silent and Lance didn't push him but he knew that Keith had seen something that wasn't there.

“Let's just find whatever it is that's causing all this before it does something more damaging,” Keith grimaced.

“What can be worse than a high strung Pidge?” Lance asked.

“Shiro thinking he's in the arena again fighting,” Keith replied back making Lance swallow hard.

“Yeah so let's pick up the pace,” Lance said quickly keeping pace with Keith as they tried to find Pidge and whatever had hypnotized her.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro was asleep in his room when he heard a commotion, causing him to wake up with a start.

He made his way to door and cautiously walked out, bracing his arm just in case.

At that moment, a small body slammed right into him at full speed, causing the figure to fall over and hit the floor with a pained grunt.

“Pidge?!” exclaimed Shiro in surprise but even more so when when Pidge looked at him with fierce eyes for in her eyes, standing before her was none other than Zarkon.

 _“Zarkon….no...how did you get into the castle?!_ ” Shiro heard Pidge mutter, as the girl froze in fear.

“Zarkon? What Pidge it's me Shi-” Shiro started when he saw Lance and Keith running up.

“Shiro! Pidge is hypnotized!! Something has her thinking we all are Galra!” Lance shouted,” Keith said something is going on in the castleship!”

“ _Zarkon...no the lions! I have to get to the lions!!”_ Pidge said as she dodged Shiro’s grab and sprinted hurriedly towards the hangers.

“Shiro come on!” Keith said as their leader broke out of their stunned state and ran with them.

“You said she's hypnotized how!?” Shiro demanded.

“We don't know but we know there's something on the ship that's causing this,” Keith said frowning.”I'm just glad it didn't get you,”

“Okay now that we know Shiro is okay what are we going to do about Pidge!? We can't exactly hurt her!” Lance said worriedly.”And talking failed when she nailed poor Hunk in the jewels.”

“Maybe her connection with her lion? The Black lion saved me from Zarkon so maybe Green will help her break out of whatever it is that's messing with her,” Shiro suggested.

“That is if she does go to her lion, I don't know if you noticed but she was heading towards your hanger Shiro,” Lance said making Shiro’s eyes widen.

“If she thinks I’m Zarkon and we figured out that he’s after Black then of course she’d had to my hanger!” Shiro cursed as they tried to hurry up. “I don’t know what she could do but I don’t think we want to take any chances with the state she’s in now.”

Pidge ran as fast as she could. She hoped the Lions were safe!

Back in the hangar, Green’s eyes lit up. Her Paladin...in danger! Must help!

Green released a loud roar that made Pidge slid to a stop.

“My Lion….I’m coming!” called Pidge as she switched routes and quickly headed for the Green Lion’s Hangar unknown to her, she only narrowly avoided the mysterious figure hiding just around the corner.

The other Paladins were not that far behind as they ran after Pidge.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge ran to her Lion who lowered her head.

"Green! There’s Galra in the castle! We have to save everyone!” said Pidge urgently but the Green Lion just stared at her Paladin.

“What are you doing? Let me in! Didn’t you hear me?!”

Green let out a low rumble making Pidge widen her eyes.

“What are you talking about? They **are here!** I saw them myself! Zarkon too! Come on!”

At that moment the other Paladins arrived just in time to see Pidge and her Lion.

Shiro took one look and knew what the Green Lion was doing as he signaled the others to be silent as they fell back to watch. Pidge was arguing with the Green Lion as she was trying to get her to open up so they could attack but the Green Lion wasn’t having any of it. They could see her eyes glowing brightly before they see Pidge’s head snap back and stumble back a bit, they could see her rubbing her head and frown.

“What? What am I doing in your hanger girl? Wasn’t I working on something?” Pidge said much to the relief of the others as they slowly got closer to the girl she turned around and looked at them surprised at the wary they had for her. “Hey guys? Did I miss something?”

“Oh thank god you’re back to normal,” Lance said looking over Pidge.” So we look normal right?”

“If you don’t count that fact that you still have some of your face mask messed up on your face,” Pidge retorted as Lance nearly screeched as he felt his face to feel there was still some of his mask had been smudged and messed up from his crying earlier.

“Why didn’t you two say something!” Lance yelled at Shiro and Keith.

“Uh...I wasn’t really looking?” Shiro replied honestly.”Kinda more focused on finding Pidge before something happened.”

“You looked fine?” Keith added tilting his head,” I was kinda more worried about other things…”

“Like what!?”

keith gave him a sidelong glance not wanting to say it in front of Shiro and Pidge, making Lance realize what the Red Paladin was talking about and quickly huffed looking away.

“Can someone PLEASE tell me what the quiznak is going!?” Pidge demanded.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge listened intently as the others explained what went on earlier while Keith relayed his suspicions.

“I don’t what it could be, but I am pretty sure something or someone is in the castle with us,” said Keith. “It’s pretty obvious this thing is messing with our minds using our hopes and fears against us, probably in an attempt for us to either destroy ourselves… **_or each other…”_ **

Pidge swallowed as she looked at her feet guiltily.

Lance folded his arms in concern. “Great so how do we defeat an opponent when we don't know what is? Should we protect ourselves with tinfoil hats? Does this castle even have tinfoil?”

“Let's go meet up with Hunk and suit up first, then we'll alert Coran and the Princess,” instructed Shiro as the rest of the group nodded in agreement still ignorant of the eyes watching them intently.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The team all gathered in the main area as Allura and Coran listened to Shiro’s report.

“We must proceed with caution, it’s possible this could be a creature from Paraden, but this hallucinating ability is certainly dangerous….” said Allura.

“I’ll start looking through the monitors for any movement, Pidge if you please?” suggested Coran as the Green Paladin complied.

“Is there a list of creatures and what they can do? The rest of us can do that while they look through the cameras for anything that we missed,” Shiro asked as Allura nodded and several screens popped up in front of them. "Okay you guys lets looks for hallucinating abilities and I'm assuming mind rewind abilities.”

The Paladins sat in their seats as the browsed through the different life forms from the planet they just liberated, as much as they could while trying not to fall asleep since it was still considered ‘late’ from their standards.

“At least we can narrow it down at least a few several thousand,” Lance sighed as he read through another set of animals. "Who knew that there was so many animals with the same abilities but so far none of them seem that strong to affect us that badly.”

“Genetically speaking if animals remain in close quarters with each other they learn and develop similar abilities,” Pidge said wiping her glasses. “But we also shouldn’t the possibility of Galra soldier, or even a Druid sneaking aboard…”

“Pidge is right,” agreed Shiro before turning to the Advisor. “How’s it going Coran?”

“So far everything looks fi- WAIT!” he exclaimed suddenly, startling everyone as he pressed his face to the screens. “I spotted something! But it’s moving too fast too see! Whatever it was it is large! Very large!”

Everybody gathered around the screens. Sure enough, something was speeding around the castle. Its movements were swift, almost gliding, like a wisp.

“Oookay, so we can rule the Galra out Thank goodness…” muttered Hunk in relief.

“So an animal from Paraden must have snuck aboard while we were looking around,” deduced Lance. “It’s probably scared and trying to escape.”

Suddenly Coran gave a horrified shriek. “Well you better catch whatever that is fast because it’s dangerously close to the Teleduv Chamber!!!”

“Paladins, Capture that creature! But try not to hurt it! A cornered beast is a deadly beast!” ordered Allura. “Paladins, let’s go!”

The group saluted Allura and ran off with her while Coran stayed behind to keep track of the beast.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay so remember, do not attack unless it tries to attack you we know very little about this creature but we already have an idea what they're capable of,” Shiro said as the group made their way to the hallways connecting to the teleduv. "We need to get them and then bring them back home.”

“Should we split up?” Hunk asked, looking at the others.”I know Allura said not to corner it but we could find it faster if we did.”

“Aright same groups as training partners,” Shiro said as they split up, for once Keith and Lance didn't complain more worried about the alien creature running around."Remember just try and lead it away from the teleduv and to somewhere more safer.”

“And not into the bowels of the castleship we have yet to get to,” Pidge muttered.

“Alright keep in touch with each other,” Shiro said as he went one way, Pidge and Hunk another leaving the red and blue paladin to go the other way.

“Coran any idea what this creature looks like?” Shiro asked as the advisor's voice echoed through the com system.

“No nothing yet, it may be faster than the cameras can catch but thanks to Pidge and Hunk fixing and improving the cameras there is an unknown heat signature still moving towards the teleduv. It's several ticks away from where Hunk and Pidge are actually.”

“Alright everyone keep to your areas just in case it runs off towards you,” instructed Shiro through his helmet. “And BE CAREFUL!!!”

 _::Roger that!::_ the others replied.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge looked at her projected monitor, tracking the heat signature.

“Get ready Hunk, it looks like we’re getting close!” warned Pidge, transforming her Bayard.

“Yay…” whimpered Hunk nervously.

At that moment, there was a gust of wind so strong that both Paladins got knocked over.

“ARGH!” yelped Pidge getting thrown into Hunk’s arms as the large Samoan cushioned her from harm.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” replied the girl as she checked the screen again only to have her eyes bug out. “What?!”

“What’s up Pidge?”

“This doesn’t make sense. According to this, the creature just moved right past us!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And you’re sure you didn’t see anything?” asked Keith through his communicator.

_::Nope! Nothing!::_

_::But we sure felt it!:_ noted Hunk.

Keith and Lance exchanged looks with each other.

“Wait, This thing can create illusions right?” pointed Lance. “If it can make Pidge think we’re Galra, who’s to say it can’t make itself look invisible to us?”

 _::Lance has a point. This thing likely thinks we are trying to harm it. We have to trap it somewhere where it can’t run from us.::_ Shiro said as the other Paladins thought about it.

“Would the main Hangar work?” suggested Keith.

 _:: It just might. Let’s focus on herding it in that direction.::_ commanded Shiro.

_::Got it, Pidge and I are still on it’s tail...if it has one that is…::_

“Ugh..Hunk!” groaned Lance rolling his eyes.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge and Hunk tracked creature back to where the teleduv chamber was. Hunk had his cannon ready just in case, mostly just so he could feel safe.

The two stuck close keeping vigil and their heat sensors on their visors. Little did they realize though, their target was glaring at them from up above, that is until Hunk noticed the drop of saliva on his helmet as he froze up.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

“We...don't...I mean Allura doesn't have any pets right?”

“Course not, only the mice.”

“Okay okay sooo being totally and completely calm here…”

“Hunk, you're making me nervous.”

“There is a rather **LARGE CREATURE THAT IS HUGE WITH TEETH** **_STARING AT US FROM ABOVE!”_ **

Pidge’s head whipped above and she started.

Hunk let out a little squeak.

The creature snarled.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro, Lance and Keith all suddenly flinched when they heard screaming through the coms.

:: **_AHHHHHHHHHH!!::_ **

**_:: GUYS WE FOUND IT AND IT'S CHASING US SO GET YOUR QUIZNAKING ASSES OVER HERE!!::_ **

“ **Language** Pidge! Where are you!”

:: **Screw the language thing Space Dad and get over here!!::**

Shiro groaned but started to sprint down the hall and just as he turned the corner a blur of yellow and Green flew by.

Activating his arm he turned just to see the creature thundering down towards him and he had to grimace at the sight.

“ **Hah!”** Shiro cried as he raised his arm and thrusted it at the creature when he suddenly blinked and it was behind him!?

“What the hell!?”

Before Shiro could do anything more there was a strong impact to his back, sending him flying through a wall.

“Shiro!!” cried Pidge and Hunk but unfortunately they didn’t have time to stop as whatever was after them was hot on their heels.

“Pidge! Hunk! Stick to the Plan!!!” they heard Shiro painfully as he peeled himself from the wall crater.

“Princess! Coran! We found the creature! Pidge and Hunk are going to lure it done to the Hangar!”

_::Understood Shiro! Take the alternate route and head to the Hangar first!::_

“Got it!”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith and Lance overheard the commotion and were running towards the noise, transforming their bayards just when Pidge and Hunk ran past them.

 **“HAUL ASS!!!!”** cried Pidge over her shoulder prompting the other two to look over and see a giant shadowed figure with glowing red eyes snarling and running full tilt at them.

“Woah!” exclaimed Lance as him and Keith began sprinting after their teammates.

“You weren’t kidding when you said it was large!!!” yelled Keith.

“No shit, Sherlock!!!” snapped Lance as the four Paladins increased their speed towards the Hangar.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allura and Coran watched worriedly as they watched the Paladins run across multiple screens with the beast not far behind.

“Just what could it possibly be?” wondered Allura biting her nail.

“I’m not sure Princess, but that shape..the way it moves...the power of illusions….I feel like I have read about this creature before… but where?” Coran muttered, trying to recall.

“I’m going to help them! Stay here Coran!”

“Wa-WHA?! Princess Nooo-!” Coran tried to protest but turned to see the doors close on him. “And she’s gone.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance and Keith made a full dash into their destination, making sure full well the beast was right behind them.

“NOW YOU GUYS!!!” commanded Keith to Hunk and Pidge who had ran ahead and lay in hiding by the entrance as they sprang out and initiated the emergency lock, causing the doors to slam shut as the beast slid to a stop upon realizing.

Immediately, the beast turned around and rammed the bay doors only to be rebounded.

It then tried to leave another way but was stopped when Hunk fired a blast just inches from its nose.

It made another attempt to go through another exit but Shiro leapt out with his arm glowing and punched the air towards the beast, creating an impact strong enough to momentarily stun it.

The beast stood, growling and panting as it looked around. It was surrounded. The Paladins had it cornered from all angles.

Allura arrived just in time through another entrance brandishing her staff. “Paladins! Are you all safe?!”

“Just in time your Highness, we just got it cornered,” reported Shiro as everyone trained their weapons on the creature.

Now that it stopped moving, everyone was finally able to get a good look at the beast.

Just as it was reported, the creature was huge!

Almost rivaling the Green Lion in size. It appeared to be a canine, almost wolf-like, with thick white fur with blue highlights. It’s legs were long and slender ending with huge paws with equally long sharp nails. Nine long tails of varying shades of blue and white bellowed about the creature in a frightening manner.

However, what truly made the creature menacing was its rabid snarl, boasting the rows of sharp, sharp teeth. There appeared to be a series of dark blue markings on it’s face as three glowing red eyes glared at everyone.

The creature lifted its head and emitted a long, loud howl that reverberated in the chamber, causing everyone to cover their ears.

Coran leaned into the screen as recognition filled his eyes.

“I don’t believe it….” breathed Coran in awe.

 _::IT’S A ME-GUMI!!!::_  everyone heard Coran exclaim excitedly through their communicators.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allura gasped at the news. “Coran, are you sure?”

_::Affirmative, Princess! The Wisp like movements! The Illusion Powers! It all makes sense!!!”_

“What the Quiznak is a Me-Gumi?” demanded Lance still training his gun on the snarling beast.

“It’s an ancient beast, known across galaxies as the Embodiment of Quintessence itself,” explained Allura in awe. “It is considered a Divine Being by many planets! I’ve only heard stories of it when I was a child!”

“Welp, it’s pretty real!” exclaimed Pidge.

“And Hella Angry!” cried Hunk.

“Paladins, hold your ground!” ordered Allura.

Shiro and the Me-Gumi locked eyes with each other. All of a sudden, there was a flash as images began flooding into his head.

**_The Pain…._ **

**_Fear….._ **

**_I have to fight!_ **

**_I don’t want to be locked up in this cage forever!!!_ **

**_I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!_ **

**_I must fight!!!!_ **

**_FIGHT!!!!_ **

**_FIGHT!!!!!_ **

A familiar cell flashed in Shiro’s mind.

Shiro gasped as he snapped back to reality and clutched his head. He knew these emotions...the beast was showing what it felt...what it went through….Shiro knew these feelings because...he went through them too…

 _‘You’re...you were the Champion of Paraden….’_ Shiro realized staring back at the creature.

“Shiro!” cried Keith as he moved towards the Paladin Leader.

“Keith, no! Get back!” warned Allura.

The movement from Keith spurred the Me-Gumi to attack as it swiped a paw at the Red Paladin.

He would have gotten crushed had Pidge not had unfurled her flail which wrapped around Keith’s waist and yanked him out of the way just in time.

“Thanks Pidge,” Keith said on his back on the floor as the green paladin gave him a thumbs up as Keith sat up still watching with worried eyes as Shiro and the Me-Gumi were staring at each other.

“I wonder if they're talking mentally, like since the fox creature can make illusions and read our minds I'm pretty sure they can talk in our heads. Right? Guys?” Hunk asked.

“Well we are in space,” Lance remarked dryly, keeping his eyes as well on the leader and the creature that had attacked them earlier. "The options are limitless.”

Shiro deactivated his arm as he stood straight, staring right back at the Me-gumi, the fox creature was still tense and ready to attack for any sudden movements but seemed to stay where it was and not bash itself against the hanger door trying to get out. Shiro raised his arms making the fur bristle and the rest of the Paladins tense and wanting to say something when he turned and shook his head at them, mouthing _stand down._

They didn't like it but they trusted Shiro.

“I know what you've been through,” Shiro said softly as he inched his way closer to the creature but kept a good distance away. "I had to fight too... but I managed to escape. We just want to help you, we’re nothing like whoever captured you please trust us, if you can see into our minds you know how we are.”

Slowly, the Me-Gumi began to cease it’s growling but it still looked at Shiro with cautious eyes.

Suddenly, the giant canine collapsed onto its side, forcing the others to scramble out of the way.

“What’s wrong with it?” asked Lance worriedly running up to the Shiro and the beast.

Shiro patted it’s nose as it looked back at him, whining pleadingly.

“Shiro, it’s neck!” called Allura who parted the fur on its giant ruff to reveal a black metallic collar with Druid symbols. Obviously the Galra’s work. When Alura tried to touch it sparked,  causing her to jump back while the canine moaned in pain.

“You poor thing! It's hurting you!” exclaimed the princess.

“Then let’s get it off,” said Keith brandishing his sword when Lance quickly held him back.

“Woah-woah-woah! Hold it Keith! I don’t think that’s a good idea, you might accidentally hurt it,” warned the Blue Paladin making Keith sigh and deactivate his bayard upon seeing that Lance had a point.

“So what should, no, what **can** we do?” asked Hunk, his heart breaking as the Me-Gumi gave another pitiful whine.

Now that they were closer everyone could see that under it’s beautiful fur, there were old and new scars hidden, evident of its battles.

“Poor baby….”cooed Hunk sympathetically.

Pidge appeared to be thinking as she looked at the collar, then to Shiro’s arm. “If this thing was made by the Galra...just maybe…” Pidge spoke up before indicating to Shiro.

Shiro got the message as he looked down at his arm. “Worth a shot…”he muttered before turning back to the Me-Gumi. “I’m gonna get this thing off you…”

The Black Paladin slowly made his way to the collar, his metal arm clenched before exhaling and gently placing his palm on it.

At first, there was no reaction, but then, the collar glowed in reaction to Shiro’s hand as mechanisms are heard whirring inside. With a loud click, the collar unlocked itself as the Me-Gumi took in a grateful inhale.

Suddenly the group got blown back as the Me-Gumi jumped back on it’s feet, shaking the collar off, making it fall to the ground with a loud clang.

Everybody stood back as the beast set its sights on Shiro and charged.

“No!” cried Keith lunging at the beast with his sword only to be flicked out the way by one of its tails.

“I gotcha Keith!” yelled Hunk running and jumping up, absorbing Keith’s impact as they both went crashing into a wall.

Pidge tried zapping it with her flail while Allura attempted to club it with her staff, only to be swiped away by its tails once more, flying straight into Lance who took the brunt of the force as the trio tumbled.

Shiro braced himself for the beast’s attack as the Me-Gumi turned into a giant wisp lunged at him.

“ARRRGH!” cried Shiro as he was blasted back by the wisp.

“SHIRO!!!!” cried everyone else in horror only to stop when they heard amused laughing.

The group looked over and were shocked, if not confused at what they saw.

Instead of the giant monstrous canine mauling Shiro as they had expected, they found a large white and blue, fox-like dog, rivaling Pidge in size, licking Shiro’s face happily as it joyfully rubbed its head against their leader who was laughing at being tickled by the canine kisses. The Me-Gumi was making a series of happy yips and whines as its multiple tails wagged about ecstatically as it continued showering Shiro with much affection with its never ending cuddles and kisses.

“Aw~...” went Hunk and Lance, smiling while tilting their heads to the side.

“ALRIGHT! Alright! You’re welcome~” laughed Shiro as the Me-Gumi settled down and lay its whole body on Shiro, it’s head nuzzling Shiro affectionately.

“Well at least we got that settled,” Keith said relieved though he was still wary since that fox creature had caused some trouble earlier.”Allura did the Me-Gumi originate from the planet with the others?”

“Actually we are quite far from her original home, the Galra must've captured her and brought her to Paraden to fight,” the Princess said worriedly.” Coran how long would it take to get to the Me-Gumi’s home?”

:: _Hmm give me a few ticks, I know it'll be several Vargas away from here::_ Coran’s voice replied. _::Probably more than 20 if I'm looking at this right.::_

 _“_ Well looks like our next mission is to get you home,” Shiro said patting the Me-Gumi’s head. “Then you don't have to worry about getting hurt or fighting anymore.”

“Kyip~!” barked the fox, panting happily.

Hunk practically melted as his eyes sparkled. “Awww~ Even its bark is cuute~!”

Shiro looked at the fox and blinked. “She.”

“What?” asked the others confused.

Shiro pointed at Me-Gumi. “It’s a she.”

“Kyip~!” barked the Me-Gumi in agreement.

“Daw~ Aren’t you a pretty girl, Gumi~” cooed Lance, holding out his hand, letting Gumi sniff him before leaning into the palm, her tails wagging furiously as the Blue Paladin scratched her ears.

Allura smiled happily as she pocketed her staff.

“It’s settled then. Until we get the Me-Gumi back to her planet, she’ll be staying here in the Castle of Lions,” said Allura as the fox barked happily, helping Shiro stand up as she curled around his legs.

Shiro smiled, rubbing the canine’s head. “Welcome to Team Voltron, Gumi.”

 _“KYIP~KYIP!!!”_ yipped Gumi excitedly, jumping into Shiro’s arms causing the man to struggle holding her as the fox began showering him with kisses once more much to everyone’s amusement.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere in the galaxy, Haggar’s eyes glowed.

“Sire...it appears the Me-Gumi has disappeared from the zoo…” she hissed.

Zarkon clenched his fist. “Find it, Haggar. We need that creature’s power!”

The Druid bowed her head. “As you wish..My Lord.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro shifted a bit in his bed. He was feeling strangely comfortable. His bed was warmer than usual, and his pillow felt fluffier too. Shiro frowned a bit as he felt puffs of warm breaths on his face.

Slowly he opened his eyes, only to look into a mouth of sharp teeth.

“Wah!” exclaimed Shiro in shock as a white and blue fox lay beside him, it’s tails acting as Shiro’s pillow while panting happily, eagerly awaiting for Shiro to wake up.

“Kyip~!” barked Gumi, tackling Shiro off the bed and licking him excitedly.

“Aw, Gumi! Nooo~!”

The fox continued to playfully lick at his face happily before he was able to sit up with the fox in his lap, the long fluffy tails waving behind her like an eager pet waiting for her master to wake up. Shiro sighed as he reached over with his normal hand and scratched Gumi’s head getting a happy sound from the alien creature.

“How about we get some food after I wash my face okay?” Shiro said as Gumi jumped off of his lap and stood up on her legs as Shiro headed to the bathroom, “I don’t know how you’ll take to space goo or what other alien food we managed to pick up but it has to be better than the gruel you were probably given at the zoo.”

Gumi made a noise of disgust at the thought of the zoo as Shiro splashed some water on his face a few times before he was happy. He walked out of the room with Gumi at his heels, heading down the long hall.

“I know you gave everyone a bit of a fright with you running away and all but I hope you’ll let us get close to you before we take you home,” Shiro said as Gumi nuzzled her head against his leg. “Still you’re a pretty amazing creature to do all that, I just hope you don’t decide to make the others see things again.”

Gumi let out a long sorry whine as she bowed her head.

Shiro suddenly felt bad as he scratched her fur ruff comfortingly before kneeling in front of Gumi. “I’m sorry girl, I didn't mean it. You’re a good girl, Gumi. You’re a very good Girl~”

Gumi lowered her ears and placed her head on Shiro’s shoulder along with her paws, giving her own canine version of a hug. Shiro placed his arms around the fox and stroked her fur gently.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Paladins watched with interest at the so called ‘Divine Being’ that eagerly ate the food Hunk placed before her from the biggest bowl he could find in the kitchen like a hungry dog.

“Good girl Gu-” Hunk was cooing, bending down to pet her when Gumi suddenly bared her fangs and snapped at Hunk who yelped and drew back his hand as Gumi went back to her food.

“Careful Hunk, she may be friendly but don't forget she was forced to fight for her meals for a long time…” warned Shiro.

“Oh… right... “ said Hunk apologetically, heading back to his seat, looking a little dejected.

Gumi finished her food and licked her chops before turning to Hunk, her ears flopping down in regret.

Imagine Hunk’s surprise while he was poking around his food, he heard a whine as Gumi squeezed her head under his arm and placed it on his lap, looking at him with apologetic eyes.

Almost instantly Hunk just melted as his own eyes became big and sparkly as he cuddled Gumi.

“Aw, Gumi I forgive you~” cooed Hunk lovingly, laughing as Gumi licked his face.

“At least she's breaking out of her habits she picked up while captured,” Shiro said as Hunk started to coo at Gumi and scratched underneath her chin.

“She's so complacent and sweet, it's hard to believe this was the champion of that planet,” Lance said as he ate, Pidge nodded agreeing watching curiously before she yawned,” late night again Pidgeot?”

“I was taking apart that collar,  it's scary how the Druids of the Galra could make something that could contain Gumi and make her fight.” She replied.

“Yes, legends generally portray Me-Gumi as kind and gentle creatures helping those that call out to them,” Allura frowned. “Not to mention powerful with their kind of power.”

“Even so, the Druids managed to capture her and kept for god knows how long?” pointed out Keith."We are talking about a literal, mythical creature here. No way the Galra are gonna let the ‘Embodiment of Quintessence’ just get away like that."

Gumi’s fur bristled at the mention of the Druids and the Galra as a low growl emitted from her throat.

“Easy girl….”shushed Shiro quietly as the fox complied and leaned on his lap.

“Keith puts forth a valid point, we should be ready for any attempts to retrieve the Me-Gumi,”noted Allura."Coran and I will go check on the weapons system to make sure everything is in order.”

“We’ll be on our guard too,” said Shiro on behalf of the team, getting the nod of approval from the princess.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at Zarkon’s fortress, Haggar and her Druids sat in their formation and concentrated on locating the Me-Gumi’s quintessence.

Images of the stars and galaxies flooded the witch’s mind before narrowing in on an all too familiar castle as a smirk appeared on Haggar’s lips in victory.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keeping an eye on Gumi was not a hard task for the Paladins, considering how she was following Shiro about, having grown very attached to him.

Gumi sat with Shiro inside the control center as Lance was on the keyboard trying to navigate Keith through the maze.

It had been a while since they've done this team exercise and Allura thought it was time for a review before they started training.

“Well hopefully this goes better than it did last time,” Pidge muttered to Hunk as the robust paladin was patting Gumi’s head. He snuck her some snacks from the kitchen makin the fox yip happily.

“They've gotten along better so there's a chance Lance won't use this as petty revenge for Keith when he was in the maze,” Hunk said optimistically.

Pidge gave Hunk a look while Shiro sighed, Allura patted Shiro’s back and Coran smiled.

“50/50 chance.” Hunk reiterated.

Gumi observed silently as she flicked her ears. She sat up alert as she looked around.

Suddenly, Gumi drew her head back as she released a loud long howl.

At that exact moment, the entire castle shook violently causing everyone to stumble as Gumi began bristling up and snarling.

“Paladins to your stations! They’re here!!” commanded Allura as everybody rushed out of the training room.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lions all launched to attack as Allura and Coran took their stations.

Gumi wanted to follow after them, but Shiro stopped her.

_“Gumi, Stay with Allura and Coran. We’ll be the ones to protect you,” commanded Shiro looking the fox straight in the eye._

_Gumi looked conflicted but obeyed as she ran with Allura instead._  

The fox looked uneasy as she watched the Paladins on the monitors take out the fighter ships flying their way.

Danger. DANGER!

The Good Ones need Help! But the Leader said to stay! Evil Ones are going to send bigger creature! Good Ones need to know!!!

“KYIP! KYIP!!!” barked Gumi, pacing about anxiously, scratching at the doors before running around the room, whining nervously.

“What is the matter oh great Me-Gumi?!” asked the Hairy faced one kneeling before her.

Gumi barked again looking at the Princess before unleashing a long, wailing howl.

There was an explosion heard as the Paladins were heard grunting in pain.

“Paladins report!” Allura shouted as she and Coran were looking through the monitors and attacking the fighters as much as they could. Allura could see there were twice as many fighters than usual and she knew the Galra were determined to get Gumi back no matter what the costs.

:: _They’re not playing around Princess,::_ Shiro grunted as he used the Lion’s blade to cut through one of the attacking ships,:: _This is like fighting a swarm of bees::_

“What is a ‘bee’?” Coran muttered as Gumi was pacing more and let out a series of whimpers and yips that Shiro could hear over the com.

 _::Is G_ _umi okay?::_ Shiro asked as they could see more fighters taking the place of those that were destroyed, :: _Damn they just keep coming!::_

“I believe she is worried about something, it has the poor girl on edge,” Coran replied.

Suddenly Gumi could feel a large mass of dark quintessence that was being released from one of the ships and let out a louder howl that caught all the Paladin’s attention.

:: _Was that Gumi!?::_

_::Is she okay? The castle is fine right!?::_

_::Allura what's going on!?::_

_::Is something happening over there!!?::_

Danger!! Danger!! Danger!! Big creature is almost on top of the good ones. Good ones and leader don't know!

Suddenly Gumi went silent as her ears flopped down.

It’s here!

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A wormhole opened in the middle of the battlefield as the Galra jets made a tactical retreat while a RoBeast resembling a giant porcupine emerged and roared before charging straight for the castle.

“ACTIVATING SHIELDS!!!” exclaimed Coran pushing a button.

The RoBeast rolled up into a ball and began spinning rapidly, attempting to ram the castle when Hunk and Shiro flew in, activating their jaw blades as they parried the attack and forced the RoBeast back.

_::FORM VOLTRON!!!::_

The three inside the castle watched as the legendary defender was formed and they took on the roBeast, the shields were raised, stopping the RoBeast from hitting them before flinging it back. The Green and Red lion open their mouths and fired lasers at the beast but the RoBeast had its own plan and unfurled itself before it moved out of the way nimbly. It rolled up again and instead of rolling forward it launched some spikes off of its body in every direction.

 _::Evasive maneuvers!! Pidge get that shield up! Keith try burning the spikes!! Lance, Hunk I need thrusters to move now!::_ Shiro called as the shield blocked a few of the spikes but when the fire hit them nothing happened.

 _::Shiro the fire isn’t working on them I think we just have to dodge them for now!::_ Keith said as he brought the sword out to hit the spikes away from the main body, _::Any ideas on how to get closer to that thing?::_

 _:: That thing is fast, and probably heavily armored too if the spikes have anything to say about it!::_ Pidge grimaced.

 _::I think they’re saying THEY WANNA TURN US INTO A PINCUSHION!!!::_ exclaimed Lance as the RoBeast opened fire.

Voltron flew through the area as the spikes came after it like missiles, evading some while blocking others with its shield and deflecting with its sword.

 _::Should I activate the shoulder cannon?!::_ asked Hunk lifting his bayard in preparation.

 _:: No Go! The Spikes are making it hard to get a clear shot!::_ replied Shiro, grimacing as Voltron took a hit.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you alright?!” asked Allura worriedly having witnessed a spike hit Voltron in the shoulder.

 _::More or less but that hit did some damage!::_ answered Shiro.

“We'd try backing you up but we have our own problems right now!” exclaimed Coran activating shooting drones, taking down the Galra fighter jets attacking the castle while Voltron was busy with the RoBeast.

“There is no doubt they want the Me-Gumi! We’ll fend them off here! You all just take down that RoBeast!”

 _::_ _Roger! ::_

Gumi sat on the sidelines watching. She could sense the growing fear of the Princess and the Hairy Faced One.

Gumi closed her eyes and concentrated on the Paladins fighting outside.

The Lions were calling out to Gumi.

The Good Ones are hurt but they still fight. They have fear but courage still burns in their hearts. Their intentions are clear. They are not fighting just to save her. They are fighting for the Universe. The Quintessence of the Good Ones are shining brightly but even then the Dark One still overwhelms them.

Me-Gumi hears the heart of the Leader. His heart resonates with her own.

Me-Gumi will fight too! Me-Gumi wants to save the Good Ones who saved Me-Gumi and her Paraden comrades!!!

Unknown to the Alteans, Gumi began to glow softly as the giant eye in the middle of her forehead began to open.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suddenly, all the Lions eyes began to light up as they all roared simultaneously much to the surprise of the Paladins.

Pidge pulled up the power level readers as her eyes widened.

“You guys! I don't know what's going on but our Lions are getting a major energy boost!!!”

 _::It's not just the Lions! I feel like energy is flowing into me as well!!::_ Keith was heard exclaiming.

 _::Keith's right! I feel all kinds of awesome!!! ::_ agreed Lance.

 _::Ditto! ::_ chimed in Hunk.

Shiro felt a familiar presence in his mind and smiled as his hands tightened on the controls.

“Then let's kick some Ass!!!!” exclaimed the Black Paladin, feeling fueled by a new power.

 **_::Language Shiro!!::_ ** the other Paladins jokingly chided.

The Paladins could feel a fond exasperation through their bond in Voltron, with renewed energy the sword glowed brightly and hotly with a white energy surrounding it.

The RoBeast curled up and spun, launching more spikes at them trying to skewer then, but the shield glowing as bright as the sword expanded. There was a loud noise of the spikes hitting the shield but it held up stronger than before, the spikes not pushing them back like before as they just bounced right off!

:: _Let's take this chance!:: Pidge exclaimed, ::with the energy output I'm getting we just need to get close to it and take care of it!::_

 _::But it's still too fast!::_ Hunk exclaimed as they kept trying to get close but the RoBeast would just spin away.

:: _Lance! Try and get a good shot and freeze the RoBeast as we move closer! If we can stop its movements we should be able to cut through it with the sword!::_ Shiro called out.

“Got it!” answered Lance when he felt his Lion rumble.

“Hold up! Blue’s got a better idea!” announced the Paladin, holding up his Bayard and inserting it into its port, twisting it for activation.

Voltron’s sword began to glow and transform as a large ray-gun appeared on its right arm as a scope materialized in front of Lance.

The RoBeast roared as it powered up to fire again while Lance concentrated his aim, exhaling slowly before squeezing the trigger.

At that exact moment, the RoBeast unleashed its rocket spikes aiming right at Voltron as a blue blast fired out towards the RoBeast.

Back on the ship, Gumi gave a long, loud howl as a barrier materialized around Voltron, protecting it from the attack as the beam hit its target, freezing the RoBeast solid.

“Now’s our chance! Take it Keith!!!” commanded Shiro as Keith activated the Blazing Sword once more, allowing Voltron to rush forward, slashing the RoBeast to pieces, causing it to explode.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the castle, Haggar gave a cry as she felt her Robeast destroyed. Snarling, the witch turned to her druids, who nodded as they gave the order for the troops to retreat. She watched angrily as she watched as Voltron separated quickly going back to the castle just as a wormhole appeared and they jumped through it disappearing quickly.

“Lord Zarkon won’t be pleased, it’s going to take a while to find the creature again since by now it will be expecting us to locate it,” Haggar hissed as she and the druids disappeared to make plans on what to do now.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“That was awesome! Did you see me take that shot!” Lance grinned practically bouncing where he was as they walked back to the control room where Shiro was forcibly tackled by a worried Gumi licking his face and whining.

“You did great Lance you got it on the first try!” Hunk laughed slapping Lance’s back grinning while Pidge nodded.

“Have to admit you handled it really well,” the Green Paladin said. "Then again you are our sniper for a reason.”

“That really was a good shot Lance,” Keith had to admit, looking at Lance who practically glowed with the praise. He wouldn’t tell Lance to his face at least, but he wouldn’t be able to take a shot like that he’d prefer swords and close contact to distance.

Once Gumi was sure Shiro was in one piece she surprised the other Paladins by doing the same thing to them, pouncing on them and licking their faces making sure they weren’t hurting after that fight.

“Aww we’re fine girl! We have you to thank for getting us through that!” Hunk cooed as he scratched her underneath her chin. “Who gave us a good power boost? You did!”

“Hunk you cannot speak to the embodiment of quintessence itself like that!” Coran said horrified.

“I don’t really think she minds at this point Coran,” Pidge laughed before she yelped and was tackled down by Gumi. “Urgh...being the smallest sucks…”

Gumi gave a doggy smile as she gave Pidge a long, affectionate lick much to her disgust.

“EW!”

“Kyip!” barked Gumi before going back to Shiro who knelt down in front of her as she placed a paw on his knee.

“You saved our lives Gumi, Thank you.”

Gumi wagged her tails looking pleased before placing her head on Shiro’s shoulder.

She could feel a variety of emotions coming from him… gratitude… relief… uneasiness… regret… but most of all… fear…

Gumi glanced a bit at the Leader. She saw inside his mind. He had much love in his heart.. But much hatred to himself. There was a pain that ran deep within.

Curious being… Gumi thought to herself.

  
So very curious…...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> Shiro was grateful to have Gumi by his side especially with how she helped with his episode. She was very affectionate, if not overzealous. Shiro loved Gumi to bits as if she was a pet but even Shiro had to admit...Gumi was a little...clingy…..


	2. Oh Leader, My Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leader feels sad. Gumi wants to protect Leader!

Gumi stuck close to the Black Paladin never once leaving his side.

His Quintessence intrigued her. His Heart made her curious. His Mind was a mystery to her.

The Black Lion’s connection to him was fascinating as well. Her loyalty to the Leader was unquestionable, their respect for each was one of mutualism.

Leader’s mind was constantly about his team, this castle, The Legendary Defender, the Princess and her Hairy faced attendant.

Gumi tilted her head in curiosity at Leader who lay asleep in bed.

How odd.

He does not allow himself to think of himself. In fact, he seemed to avoid that altogether.

Gumi watched as Shiro’s face began to look pained as he shifted and grunted uncomfortably.

_“Urg… no… I’m nothing like you…. Never…"_

Curious, Gumi placed her muzzle on Shiro’s forehead and closed her eyes as her body began to glow blue.

Slowly, her facial markings illuminated as her Third Eye opened to see into his mind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_She appeared almost as ghost in a dark vastness of Shiro’s dream, it took a few seconds for things to settle before she appeared in a darken room aboard the castleship. Inside she could see some sort of chamber, her ears perked up when she heard Shiro’s voice and hurried over to where he was. Gumi saw that Shiro was trapped in some sort of pod with one of the evil creatures standing in front of him as the Black Paladin was pounding at the pod trying to get out. In the distance she could hear the Paladins, Allura and Coran calling out for Shiro to help,them._

_::Just accept it Champion, you are what we made you to be. A killer, someone who just fights and fights for blood and glory. You aren’t fit to be a Paladin much less a leader.:: the evil one sneered his claws tracing over the glass, ::You’re just like us you realize right? Just accept it.::_

_**::NEVER! I am nothing like you!::** Shiro shouted back his pounding becoming more frantic against the glass. **::We’ll defeat you just like we did before, Sendak!!::**_

_The Evil One chuckled darkly and the room seemed to darken even more only this time another evil one appeared, a witch in a robe with her hand glowing a sickly purple color making Shiro gasp._

_::Maybe you just need some more convincing **champion** why don’t we let Haggar fix you up a bit and prove to you that all you’ll be is one of us.:: _

_Shiro fell once the pod disappeared around him, stumbling near the ground. Someone stepped up close to him and he gasped when he saw it was himself, only the eyes were yellow and he had his prisoner outfit on. But what scared him the most was that evil smirk on his face similar to one that he’s seen on Sendak._

_::Poor weak Shiro, so busy in denial he can’t even save his friends~:: his darker self said as bodies started to appear, broken, bruised and beaten, with blood coming out of wounds. Helmets were cracked and bayards were broken into pieces all around them._

_::No...no!! How could you do this!?:: Shiro demanded but the other version of himself just continued smirking even as he was fading away._

_::Me? Oh no…..I didn’t... **you did** :: _

_Shiro slowly looked down at his hands which were once clean now was covered in the blood that flowed from his comrades around him._

_::No… no…..:: sobbed Shiro in despair._

_Gumi watched, invisible in Shiro’s Dreamscape, her eyes glowing._

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro gasped, sitting upright in bed and breathing hard. His body was covered in sweat, tears trickled from his eyes as he stared at his Galra arm.

Shiro’s hands were trembling heavily with fear as the image of blood on his hands were still fresh in his mind.

The idea that Shiro could even do such a thing…...Shiro spent every waking moment not even **trying** to think about such a possibility. However, try as he might, Shiro could not quell the fear that one day he might accidentally hurt his own.

 _“I’m not like them… I am the Black Paladin...I am the Leader of Voltron… I’m not like them… I'm not like them!!!”_ chanted Shiro to himself, closing his eyes and covering his ears.

Gumi’s ears flopped down as she watched Shiro.

Shiro kept repeating his mantra over and over, doing his hardest to keep it together when he felt a weight on his lap and wet nose nudging his arm.

Slowly, Shiro opened his eyes to find Gumi lying in his lap, looking up at Shiro in concern. Gumi nuzzled Shiro’s face as she licked away his tears and laid her head on his shoulder comfortingly.

The Black Paladin said nothing as he wrapped Gumi up in his arm and buried his face in her furry ruff as he just sobbed silently.

Gumi continued to nuzzle Shiro, wrapping her tails around him.

Shiro hugged the fox even more, finding solace in her warmth.

That night for the first time in a long while, Shiro felt safe.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Shiro isn't here?” Allura asked surprised as she came meet up with the others in the hallways of the room, usually she and Shiro managed to talk a bit before the others woke up for breakfast,”that's rather unlike him.”

“He wasn't in the training area,” Keith said ignoring the mutter from Lance that of course Keith would know that.

“The black Lion hangar is empty,” Pidge commented.”We're going to check his room.”

“I'll join you, I am a bit concerned if something happened to Shiro,” Allura said worriedly as they headed over to Shiro’s room.

“Well at least we know he has Gumi. She's been attached to him since he released her from the collar,” Hunk said as they stood in front of the door and knocked.”Hey Shiro? Are you okay?”

They looked at each other when they didn't hear a sound for response and tried knocking again only it had the same result. With that in mind Allura stepped forward and the doors opened. She and the rest of the Paladins were greeted with a cute sight. Shiro was lying face buried into Gumi’s fur as her tails wrapped around protectively and similar to a blanket over him. The Paladin’s expression carried  a look of comfort as he snuggled deeply into Gumi’s soft fur.

 _“Awww~”_ went everyone except Keith tilting their heads as they looked at each other and decided to back out slowly before closing the door quietly.

“Well…I suppose we could afford to let him sleep a little more…” said Allura out of sympathy as the others nodded in agreement and left.

However out of all of them, the only one who was hiding his displeasure was Keith.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro was grateful to have Gumi by his side especially with how she helped with his episode. She was very affectionate, if not overzealous. Shiro loved Gumi to bits as if she was a pet but even Shiro had to admit...Gumi was a little...clingy…..

Even if Shiro enjoyed Gumi’s company, it was really hard to get things done with her literally sticking close to him.

When he tried to train, Gumi would attack the drones to protect him before he even had a chance to attack.

When he ate, Gumi would sit her large body on his lap, making him unable to reach the food.

She would howl loudly if Shiro so much as closed a door on her.

She wouldn’t even let Shiro have privacy in the bathroom!

Shiro sat in the tub frowning and crossing his arms as Gumi sat across from him in the water, panting and looking pleased.

“Gumi, I love you but do you really have to stare at me in the bath?”

“Kyip~” barked the fox in response sitting up on her haunches and hitting the water with her paws causing water to splash all over over Shiro who just groaned unamused.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I think it’s sweet though…”commented Lance watching Gumi snuggle Shiro incessantly as the leader tried to get her to calm down.

Pidge appeared disinterested while Keith sat in the corner eyeballing the fox while Hunk was hugging one of Gumi’s tails.

“A little too sweet….”muttered Shiro finally getting the fox to settle down. “How is Coran getting on with locating Gumi’s home?”

“A little tricky, there aren’t much real life accounts of Me-Gumi so all Coran has to go on are legends and folklores. We’re going through all of them to see if there is a common thread,” answered Pidge not looking up from her screen as she sifted through the documents Coran gave her from the Castle library.

“Did Gumi’s species live all on one place or were they spread out?” Keith asked.”A being of quintessence wouldn't live on just one world would they?”

“There are stories that they would travel to different planets somehow but they should have a homeworld some where, problem is with us being ten thousand years in the future we have to figure out how accurate these are,” Pidge said pushing her glasses up. “There's so many myths and stories to go through hardly are any giving a description of a planet or world.”

“Well! At least until then we got this sweet girl around,” Lance said laughing as He scratched under her chin. “Too bad we couldn't keep her around she was really helpful during that roBeast fight who knows when we might need her help again.”

“As nice as it is having a backup plan we can't really rely on Gumi for every fight you know,” Keith commented still eyeing the fox that was attached to Shiro’s side and seemed content to stay there.

“Dude do you always have to be a downer?” Lance asked frowning looking over at Keith who scowled back.

“I'm just being realistic!” Keith argued back before another argument once again had broken out between the Red and Blue Paladins. The two were practically in each other's faces as they argued again, scowling at each other.

Hunk sighed as he moved over to help Pidge find something about Gumi’s homeworld while Shiro shook his head.

“Not again…” Shiro sighed looking at the two.

Gumi looked between the black paladin and then two arguing. Much to his surprise, Gumi walked over to Lance and Keith her tails waving behind her as she sat on the side watching them  for a few seconds before using her tails to grab and physically separate them.

She turned to look at Shiro happy to help him but saw that the paladin was gone. Dropping the two like two sacks of potatoes and ran out of the room trying to find the Black Paladin.

“Did Shiro just pull a ditch on Gumi?” Lance asked as he rubbed his bottom from the sudden drop.

Keith was in the same situation though he did wonder where Shiro would run to avoid Gumi?

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro skidded into his hanger and looked up at his Lion, worried for her paladin she purred into his mind making Shiro wave his arms.

“Black open up and don't let Gumi in please?” Shiro asked and Black happily complied and lowered her jaw letting her Paladin in to rest and get some space from the creature.

“Thanks, I love Gumi really but I need some space to breath...” Shiro said tiredly as he sighed in his seat.

It’s not that he was not aware of why Gumi was acting that way but that made it all the more harder for Shiro.

Suddenly, there was a thump that made Shiro jerk in surprise.

He looked up to see Gumi splayed on the window panting hard as if to say ‘FOUND YOU!!!’

_“Gah! Gumi!”_

Gumi’s paws scraped against the window as she whined and howled loudly.

The Black Lion seemed irked at the itchy feeling on her eyes as the Lion jerked her head a bit, sending Gumi flying into the air.

Gumi wisped to the ground and barked in protest at the big Lion, glaring heatedly while the Lion gave a warning growl in response, but that only served to rile Gumi up even as she barked louder and tried to enter but Black simply batted her away.

 

* * *

 

 _-Leave my Paladin be, Me-Gumi…-_  the Lion growled in an authoritative voice.

 _-Give me back Leader! I need to protect Leader!-_ barked Gumi back.

_-My Paladin is capable of protecting himself. He is not a child.-_

_-Leader is my friend!! I protect Leader! You are keeping Leader for yourself!-_ the fox argued.

 

* * *

 

The commotion between echoed loudly down the castle halls, alerting everyone in the castle as they ran down to Hangar to see Gumi barking incessantly at the Black Lion who growled back in response as the two beings glared at each other.

“Are they...talking?” Allura asked staring at the Black Lion growling back at the Me-Gumi, refusing to let the fox in, at least they knew where Shiro had run off to they really shouldn’t have been surprised since the Black Lion was probably the only place where Gumi couldn’t get into.

“Looks like they’re arguing more than talking,” Pidge said as the yips from Me-Gumi was becoming more insistent as she tried to jump on top of the Black Lion but the Lion growled and moved her head back keeping her mouth firmly shut and her Paladin away from the Me-Gumi.

“Well Black is pretty much Shiro’s only defense against Gumi,” Hunk said. "Though you have to admit this is interesting to watch, I knew they were sentient but I didn’t realize it was by this much,”

“Maybe when they bond more with their Paladin they become more open about protecting their Paladins,” Coran said rubbing his chin curiously.

 

* * *

 

- _My_ **_Paladin_ ** _does not need your protecting Me-Gumi, Your help is appreciated but not necessary. -_

_-He hurt! I here to protect him!-_

_-That is_ **_not_ ** _yours to decide! He needs to grow on his own!-_

Gumi seemed to bark angrily at the lion as her tails whipped out and fanned behind her.

_-Do not even dare, you’ll just upset my Paladin more. Do you not realize you won’t be with him once they find you home?-_

_-He needs to be safe!-_

_-He will be safe with his_ **_family_ ** _he has here!-_

_-Give him back now!-_

_-Child, if you cannot accept that, I will keep my Paladin away from you!-_

 

* * *

  

The group let out a startled cry when Black stood up and roared loudly before shooting out of the hangar much to everyone’s shock even Gumi’s.  

Before anyone else could even comprehend the situation, Gumi let out a snarl and transformed into a wisp, zooming after the Black Lion just before the hangar doors managed to close as everyone stared with open mouths.

“Uuuh…..we’re gonna follow them...right?” asked Hunk after a few minutes once the event that transpired finally sunk into their brains.  


\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WAIT WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?!” yelled Shiro as he hung on to the controls trying to stop his Lion as she sped through space but the Black Lion had jammed the controls on him.

Shiro’s sensors lit up, revealing a familiar wisp speeding after them not far behind until it finally overtook them, causing Black to stop so suddenly that Shiro flew out of his seat and smacked against the control system.

“Ow…”

Black rumbled an apology.

“It’s fine….” groaned Shiro rubbing his middle. ‘Note to self...get Pidge to install seat belts….’

Shiro heard a monstrous snarl coming from outside his lion, prompting him to look up and gasp.

Gumi was there blocking the Black Lion’s path in her monstrous form as her tails were flaring out while all three of her eyes were glowing and glaring fiercely at the Black Lion.

The former Champion of Paraden was ready to fight.

 

* * *

 

**_-Leader...give back Leader!!!-_ **

Black growled back at Me-Gumi. **_-Shiro belongs to no one!-_ **

**_-If you don’t return Leader, I make you!!!!-_ ** snarled the Celestial fox as she opened her jaws and fired a blast of pure blue quintessence at Black.

 

* * *

 

Shiro clung to his seat tightly as Black took off, barrel rolling out of the path of the blast.

“Whatever you do! Don’t hurt her! She’s still our friend!!” yelled Shiro as his lion rumbled in acknowledgement.

The chase between the two continued as Gumi tried to knock the Black Lion so she can get Shiro but she would always be evaded.

Black dodged another blast as she rushed forward and body slammed Gumi, sending her flying.

Gumi retaliated by slapping Black in the face with her tails.

The two beings squared off and snarled fiercely at each other.

 _::SHIRO!? Are you okay?::_ Keith’s voice broke through. Shiro turned on the camera to see the other four lions hovering behind him.

“Guys stay where you are! Do not attack Gumi! She's arguing with Black!” Shiro said.

 _::Arguing about what though!?::_ Keith demanded worried about the Black Paladin.

 _::Who else? Shiro! He has two ladies fighting over him!::_ Pidge snickered.

 _::Shiro maybe you talk to her before she really hurts Black and you…::_ Hunk said nervously. : _:This is probably the best chance you're going to get for Gumi to listen to you.::_

Shiro realized Hunk had a point, if they were back inside the castle she would just be smothering him and wouldn't listen.

“Alright best plan to use right now,” Shiro muttered  before turning to Gumi who was beginning  to charge. Shiro quickly pushed the button on the dash for the intercom outside.

:: **_Gumi stop!::_ **

The creature came to an abrupt halt before she nearly slammed into the black lion.

The fox hovered in front of the Black Lion, glaring intensely at Shiro through her eyes as she still snarled.

:: **_Gumi I know you only want to protect me but you have to stop, you can't be there all the time for me.::_ **  Shiro explained gently, **_::I know you mean well but both you and Black are important to me…. So please stop this….::_ **

Very slowly, Gumi eased her growling and grew silent as she closed her eyes and focused her energy to the one remaining eye on her forehead.

Shiro couldn't help but look into the single eye, mesmerized.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Before Shiro realized it, he felt a strong tug as he found himself in a strange landscape. It had a beautiful lagoon and crystals everywhere._

_Shiro felt a tug on his shirt as he looked down to a little girl with white hair and blue streaks looking at him intently._

_The girl’s face was marked with familiar markings as smiled at him._

_“Leader~!” exclaimed the child happily hugging Shiro._

_“You...Gumi?” Shiro asked shocked. ”Y-you're a child?”_

_“Was captured long time when smaller. Mama and daddy couldn't find me…” Gumi replied as she hugged Shiro tightly.” Black is being mean keeping you for herself.”_

_Shiro sighed and now could see why Gumi was so attached to him, she hasn't had anyone to care for her in years and of course she would cling to the first person that showed her kindness. She was a little girl, a little girl who was taken from her home and lost._

_“So this is your home?” Shiro asked sitting down as Gumi happily hugged his arm.”And Black isn't keeping me to herself she just doesn't like how you're always trying to protect me.”_

_“But leader is sad, protect leader from more sadness...wanna help,” Gumi sniffed as she looked like she was going to cry._

_“Don't cry Gumi, look I like that you want to help but you can't protect me from every little thing,” Shiro said.”I know you want to but don't forget we’re taking you home.”_

_Gumi let out a sad whine as she held Shiro tighter and Shiro wrapped an arm around her hugging this version of Gumi._

_“ So she will take good care of you? Even if I'm not there?” Gumi asked._

_“She’ll take very good care of me and everyone Gumi, I'll be fine okay? Just promise me not to be so overprotective okay? It's upsetting Black and I care about her too.” Shiro added as Gumi sniffed rubbed her face against his sleeve._

_“Leader… I love you…” Gumi said meekly as she finally let go of Shiro’s arm._

_To her surprise, Shiro hooked his hands by her waist and suddenly lifted her above him, causing her to look down at his kind, smiling face._

_“I love you too Gumi~” he said affectionately as Gumi giggled while Shiro lowered her and held her in his arms._

_The two shared one more hug as Gumi gently held Shiro’s face touched their foreheads together._

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_***FLASH!*** _

_\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Shiro awoke to find himself back in his Lion and Gumi in his lap, back to her normal size as she hugged Shiro in her own doggy way and slept.

 _::Shiro! Shiro! You ok?! ::_ asked Keith worriedly through the communications.

Shiro patted Gumi’s head before turning on his communication.

“I’m alright guys, and so is Gumi…. Let’s go back to the castle,” he said turning his Lion around.

 _::Wait, you're not gonna explain what just happened?!::_ exclaimed Pidge earning a chuckle from Shiro.

“I’ll tell you guys later. Hunk, do you think you could whip up something for dinner?”

 _::Like you have to ask~::_ responded the yellow Paladin eagerly.

 _::Oh yeah!! ::_ cheered Lance as all five lions sped off homebound for the Castle.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So Gumi is a puppy/cub thing…” noted Lance slowly as he watched Gumi eat, trying to process that information.

“Given her actions it does make sense, like a child not wanting to share their toy,” Allura said making the others snicker.

“Yeah Gumi and Black had a fight over Shiro that was just cute,” Hunk laughed as Shiro sighed. Black had been reluctant to trust the child Me-Gumi but at least she wasn't hovering over him.

“In any case I got a clue of Gumi’s home when she showed me her child form,” Shiro said,” maybe we can use the headbands from the training exercise so you can recognize it Coran.”

“Brilliant idea Shiro! Were there any distinct features?” Coran asked.

“A lot of crystals protruding  everywhere, “ Shiro said as Lance patted Gumi’s head.

“So exactly how young are we talking?” Lance asked as Gumi licked her lips from Hunk’s food before digging in again.

“She looked maybe eight or ten?” Shiro replied frowning. “She said she was taken when her parents were away, she was probably an easier target because she wouldn't have that much control over her abilities.”

Everyone looked sympathetic.

“The poor dear…” said Allura softly while even Keith couldn't help but look sorry for Gumi.

The fox sensed all eyes on her as she lifted her head, cocking it to one side as she looked back at everyone curiously.

“Well, at least we finally have a lead,” pointed out Pidge optimistically as Gumi was about to make her way over to Shiro first but hesitated and went to Pidge instead, sat by her knees, enjoying a rewarding rub between the ears.

“Don't worry, Gumi~ We’ll get you home in no time~” she said reassuringly making Gumi light up.

“Kyip!!!” barked Gumi enthusiastically jumping and sitting on Pidge happily while licking on her face.

 _ **“Ew!!! Nooo!!!”**_ wailed Pidge, her voice muffled as she flailed under the heavy canine much to the amusement of everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Next Chapter Preview:**  
>  “Gumi! Bad girl! Bad Fox-Dog-Cat thing!!! Drop that tool! Gently, preferably! Just give it back!!!” yelled Pidge sprinting after Gumi down a hallway.
> 
> Gumi suddenly slid to a stop, letting Pidge collide into her as the two tumbled a bit before the girl managed to grab the ends of the device and began a tug of war with the fox.


	3. Finding Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green One works too much. Gumi wants to have fun!

Keeping her promise to Shiro, Gumi decided to give him some space as she decided to walk about the castle to observe the other Good Ones.

The Yellow and Blue Ones were in the kitchen making something yummy, or at least the Yellow One was. The Blue One seemed like he was talking to the fun yellow one who made all the yummy food, but they both looked like they were busy with something, not wanting to bother them she trotted down the hallway. She passed by the training room where she could hear the grunts of two people, she raised an ear and could hear it was Shiro and another training. Listening some more it was really the Black and the Red one, her tails wagged wanting to go inside but she could sense that she was suppose to be with someone else.

She pawed at the door a bit before she continued her way until she got to the Green Lion hangar where she walked around. It wasn't long until Gumi found Pidge engrossed in her work. Curious, she walked over and nudged the Green paladin with her nose as she was busy fixing something but Pidge appeared not to notice.

She just sat there watching the Green One typing furiously on her laptop as she was fixing something on the green lion. There were tools all around her and as Pidge was blindly trying to find one while her eyes were glued to her screen.Gumi nudged her nose moving the item closer to Pidge’s hand, finally getting her attention as Pidge looked up surprised. The girl smiled, patting Gumi’s head.

“Hey girl, wanna help me?” Pidge asked as Gumi barked happily as she placed her head Pidge’s shoulder, looking curiously at the symbols on the screen.

Pidge had a piece of the Druid collar and appeared to be modifying it. The girl noticed the questioningly look on Gumi’s face and scratched her ears.

“I’m trying to see if I could adapt the Druid technology for Altean tech but the energy in this thing…. If I don't get this right I might accidentally turn my Lion evil…”

Gumi lifted her head and looked at Pidge in confusion.

“Long story. The bottom line is, if I succeed we could use this to jam the Galra from finding us…”

Gumi narrowed her eyes and bristled her fur while snarling while Pidge quickly put up her hands.

“Woah! Woah! Easy girl! Easy!” said Pidge in an attempt to calm the fox down.

It seemed to work as Gumi eased her hostility and flopped her ears down while whimpering, putting her head on Pidge’s lap.

The girl sighed as she sympathetically gave Gumi a comforting rub between the ears. “I know… what you went through was horrible… I bet you really miss your family huh?”

Gumi emitted a sorrowful whine as a tear rolled down her face much to Pidge’s surprise.

“Aw Gumi… I’m sorry girl, I’m sorry,” cooed Pidge as she wiped the tear away with her sleeve and hugged the fox. “There, there…”

Pidge somehow managed to soothe Gumi until she fell asleep, curling around the girl as Pidge continued her work, leaning against Gumi’s fluffy tails as a backrest.

The warmth and softness of the tails were so comfortable that Pidge couldn't help but snuggle a little against them. They were so plush and had a comforting smell of soap.

 _‘Shiro must have given her a bath….’_ thought Pidge absentmindedly as her eyelids grew heavy, unknowingly falling asleep against the fox.

Without realizing, Gumi’s Third Eye slowly began to open as it reflected Pidge’s sleeping face.

* * *

_**“Matt! Dad!!”** _

_Gumi heard Pidge cry out._

_Gumi opened her eyes and sat up, looking around._

_She was in a dreamscape. Gumi looked confused. Her Eye must have opened. The Green One must be having a particularly emotional  dream for her Third Eye to open on its own._

_“I’m coming, hang on!" Gumi heard the Green One yell out as her surroundings began to warp as she found herself in an unfamiliar place._

_A house perhaps?_

_Gumi saw a familiar girl in a dress pausing halfway down the stairs as she stared at an odd picture box with a devastated expression._

_Gumi blinked again and saw the same girl getting held back by bigger people._

_Her hair was longer but it was no doubt the Green One. She looked angrily at the Big Man in front of her._

_There was some muffled yelling between the two of them before the girl was dragged off kicking and screaming, worried Gumi chased after the girl worried when she suddenly was in a room with the girl staring at a mirror as she took out a pair of scissors._

_She was going to bark thinking the girl was going to hurt herself until she saw her cutting her hair. Gumi blinked as she watched the girl finish cutting her hair out on some spare glasses and then started to type something on her computer._

_‘So the green one disguised herself to find her family…’ Gumi thought as she was suddenly covered in darkness and she could see the green one chasing after two figures that looked similar to her walking off or being pulled away. Pidge flung her bayard trying to rope her family but it would miss them. No matter how fast she ran, the figures got further and further away until they disappeared into the darkness._

_The green one collapsed on the ground shaking as tears started to fall from her eyes._

_“Dad….Matt….Where are you…?”_

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*FLASH!*_**

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi woke up with a start, rubbing her eyes with her paw.

She looked over the warm body leaning against hers. Pidge was hugging one of Gumi’s tails tightly as tears were streaming down her face.

Ears flattening Gumi understood, the Green one like her was missing her family only it was the opposite, instead of being taken away, hers was taken from  Green One. She was trying desperately to find them and bring them home or at least to safety.  Gumi whined and licked the Green one’s face trying to comfort her, making Pidge wake up with a gasp.

“O-Oh….it was just a dream…” mumbled Pidge to herself when she saw Gumi looking at her with eyes of concern as the fox nudged Pidge.

The girl sniffed as she rubbed her face and turned back to her project. “I’m fine….Just..leave me alone for a bit…” she muttered, shuffling away from Gumi.

Gumi whined as she got up and sat away from Pidge who sullenly carried on her work without another word.

She just looked so sad. That made Gumi  feel sad. Why does Green One not let herself cry? Why does Green One hide her feelings?

Gumi was determined to cheer Pidge up.

Pidge heaved a huge sigh as she reached for an energy measuring device only for Gumi to suddenly grab it in her mouth and snatch it away.

“Wha-? Gumi!” exclaimed Pidge turning to the fox who tilted her head and wagged her tails about.

“Gumi, drop it! You’re gonna get your drool all over it!”

Gumi made a small playful warble as she bent down and stuck her rump in the air, her tails waving about excitedly.

“No! I don’t want to play! I’m busy!”

Gumi bounced around excitedly, teasing Pidge with the tool as the girl suddenly realized what Gumi was gonna do.

“Gumiiiii……Nooooo, nooooo…..drop the device Gumi….Drop it……”

Suddenly, Gumi gave a ‘Kyip!’ and immediately turned tail and bounded out of the hangar, promptly Pidge to give a small scream as she scrambled to her feet.

“AHH!!! GUMI NOOO!!!! Give it back!!!” screamed Pidge in horror dashing after the canine.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

“Gumi! Bad girl! Bad Fox-Dog-Cat thing!!! Drop that tool! Gently, preferably! Just give it back!!!” yelled Pidge sprinting after Gumi down a hallway.

Gumi suddenly slid to a stop, letting Pidge collide into her as the two tumbled a bit before the girl managed to grab the ends of the device and began a tug-of-war with the fox.

“Give it Gumi! GIVE!!” seethed Pidge pulling hard.

Gumi gave muffled barks as she pulled back just as hard, enjoying their little game.

“Stop it! I don’t wanna play! I have work to do!”

Gumi stubbornly shook her head.

“What’s going on here?!” exclaimed Shiro who happened to be passing by.

“Shiro!” exclaimed Pidge letting go in surprise, causing Gumi to go flying backwards into a tumble,  knocking Shiro over with a grunt.

Shiro suddenly found himself with a faceful of fluff as Gumi nuzzled his head but was determined to keep the device in her mouth as she jumped off Shiro, wagging her tails happily as Pidge gave the evils to the excited fox kit...thing.

“Gumi...give it back! Shiro help me! She won’t give it back to me! I need to work on that collar!” Pidge growled as Gumi just gave a muffled yip, wagging her tails more furiously.

Shiro looked between Pidge glowering at Gumi and Gumi just smiling playfully before he chuckled.

“Nah, I think it’ll be good for you to get out of the hangar once in awhile Pidge, besides Gumi’s making an effort expanding her playtime with others so I think you should take this chance and play with her. If anything think of it as training since you’re running and chasing after a target,” Shiro said rubbing Gumi’s head.

Gumi took that as an 'Okay' and immediately took off, causing Pidge to give a frustrated cry as she chased after the mischievous being.

“Thanks a lot for your help **DAD**!!” Pidge shouted over her shoulder as Shiro laughed loudly and headed off on his way.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi skidded into the kitchen where it was just the Yellow One cooking, the Blue One was nowhere to be seen.

“Gumi! You want a treat girl?” Hunk asked as Gumi was tempted but she wanted to have more fun with the Green One, so she shook her head and escaped the kitchen through the other door just as Pidge ran in a few seconds later. “Pidge?”

“Where is she!?” Pidge demanded breathing heavily, “Hunk! Tell me you saw Gumi running in here!”

“Uh just missed her, she left through that door,” Hunk replied. “What’s up?”

“She STOLE one of my tools that I need! Gah!! Gumi get your furry butt back here!” Pidge cried out running through the doors as fast as she could.

Hunk blinked a bit before shrugging and getting back to his cooking. “Welp, at least she’s taking a break…”

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi cautiously sneaked into the main lounge with the tool still in her mouth.

She sniffed the air. Green One is in this room but where?

Gumi placed her nose to the ground and began sniffing Pidge out. She’s close…..

Gumi’s tracking brought her closer and closer to the sofas, where unknown to her, Pidge was hiding in the storage space under the seat cushions.

Pidge slowly poked her head up to peek just as  Gumi was getting closer to her spot.

Suddenly, Gumi lifted her head and pressed her nose against Pidge’s while panting heavily, looking extremely pleased while Pidge looked unamused.

“Gotcha…” said Pidge bluntly , grabbing Gumi’s snout.

Gumi’s tails fluffed up in shock.  She messed up!!!

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Pidge wiped the tool down with her shirt as she sat on the couch glancing over at Gumi who was rubbing her sore nose that Pidge flicked.

“Seriously, what’s gotten into you?” asked Pidge incredulously as she side glanced Gumi who flopped her ears down and looked at Pidge with big eyes.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “If you think I’m gonna fall for the puppy eyes you got another thing coming!” she warned turning away from Gumi.

Gumi gave out a long, high pitched whine making Pidge hesitate a bit.

“Hmph!” humphed Pidge turning her back to Gumi.

Suddenly Pidge felt a heavy weight on her back as Gumi jumped on the couch and was leaning her full body weight on to Pidge, whining loudly while rubbing her face against Pidge’s cheek, much to her annoyance.

“Gumi get off of me,” Pidge growled not even bothering to turn her head to look at the fox child.

Gumi’s eyes stayed on Pidge as she continued to whine and nuzzle at the green one to get her attention again. Pushing her nose against the crook of Pidge’s arm until her head was pretty much resting on her lap.

Pidge just raised an eyebrow, though she loosened her arm a bit she wasn't talking to Gumi which was making her sad.

She just wanted to make the green one feel happy and not be sad thinking about her family. She wanted the green one to be able to cry when she was upset and not just hold all her feelings in. Her tails dropped as she tried to think of something that would cheer the green one up. Apparently playing chase like her daddy would with her to cheer her up only worked for her and not the green one.

She looked up at the Green one that was still muttering about her projects and working on the collar. Did she really have that much fun with the cold metal pieces? She did notice that the Green one would always be messing with something or trying to fix things with the nice big yellow one.

An idea hit her!

She remembered a certain room she had snuck into when she had climbed aboard the ship. The Green one would love that room! Letting out a happy sound she scurried out of the Green one’s lap. Before the green one could protest lifted her up with her tails and tossed her onto her back, forcing her to grab onto her fur.

“W-whoa!! Gumi where are we going!? Put me down!!” Pidge exclaimed as Gumi ran down the long hallways as Pidge tried to jump off but the fox creature had her tails firmly holding Pidge in place.

Pidge noticed that Gumi was running down one of the unused hallways that they hadn’t gone through yet when they were checking out the castleship, she clung tightly to Gumi’s fur as she made a sharp turn and was nearly launched off of her back when she came to a sudden halt. When Pidge was sure that Gumi wasn’t about to run off she stared at the huge double doors, Gumi went up to them and whined, pawing at them practically telling her to open the doors.

“This better be a playroom for you because there’s no way I’m playing fetch again with you.” Pidge said eyeing Gumi who yipped at her cutely. Looking at the panel Pidge eyed it before she started typing in numbers, it didn’t take long for her to get into it and step inside the room with Gumi. The area was completely dark she couldn’t see a thing. “Where’s a light switch when you need it?”

As if on command there was a blinding flash as all the lights came on at once making both Gumi and Pidge cover their eyes. Pidge grumbled as she blinked a few times before her eyes settled and she saw what was in the room, it made her eyes widen and mouth drop.

“No way…” She breathed as she ran further inside, all around were the broken droids they had trained with and beat, but not only that there were other half done engines, panels, computers all sorts of metals and materials that Pidge needed to have.

Suddenly, it was like a switched turned on inside Pidge as she lit up .

“WHOO-HOOO!!!!!!” whooped Pidge as dashed in and dove into a pile.

“Ohmigosh so many things I could use in here!!!!!” she squealed excitedly, gathering as much stuff as she could into her arms.

Gumi panted happily as she sat off to the side, entertained by Pidge’s newfound enthusiasm.

Gumi was much pleased. Green One looks so much better when she smiles.

“Kyip-Kyip!” barked Gumi bouncing in place excitedly, fueled by Pidge’s enthusiasm as she jumped in and started digging through piles mimicking Pidge.

“Hey Gumi!” she heard Pidge call.

Gumi stopped her work and turned around only to see a weird robot face shoved in hers.

The fox gave a startled cry as she jumped back.

Pidge let out a cackle as she rolled on the floor laughing

“Your face was priceless!!!!” she cackled as she sat up. “That’s payb-”

Pidge’s voice trailed off when she saw Gumi bristling up as she prepared to fire a beam.

“WOAH!” went the girl as she dove out of the way, narrowly dodging the quintessence beam that singed a bit of her hair as it blasted a pile apart.

Gumi was preparing to fire again prompting Pidge to quickly leap up and run towards the fox.

“Hey-hey! Easy girl! Easy! I didn’t mean it! Shh! Shh!” Pidge said quickly, kneeling in front of Gumi and comfortingly scratching her ruff.

The gesture seemed to snap out of her panic as Gumi powered down and relaxed, looking at Pidge with guilty eyes as her ears flopped down. Gumi saw the damage she did and whined regretfully, sinking to the floor as she sniffed and covered her eyes with her paws whimpering.

Now it was Pidge’s turn to look guilty as she lay down next to the fox and hugged her.

“I’m sorry…. I was insensitive….Of course you would still have some trauma leftover….”muttered Pidge into Gumi’s fur.

Gumi whined, lifting her head and licking Pidge’s face to say she was sorry too. Pidge smiled a little before burying her face in Gumi’s fur again.

The two stayed in their positions for a long while until they both eventually drifted off to sleep again. Pidge, unconsciously shifted in her sleep until her forehead brushed up against Gumi’s Third Eye.

With that, Gumi’s eye flashed brightly.

* * *

_Pidge opened her eyes to a beautiful, wide open green forested area covered in crystals._

_The girl looked about curiously wondering where she was when Pidge suddenly heard a tiny yip._

_She turned to see a much smaller Gumi, her pure white coat brightly against the bright blue crystals. Pidge heard a deeper bark and the tiny Gumi stopped when a bigger Me-Gumi appeared._

_This one was obviously much older and had more hints of blue on its coat. The older one walked up to Gumi and seemed to sigh before grabbing her by the back of her neck and hauling her off making the tiny Gumi whine._

_Pidge curiously followed the pair to a Crystal Den where another full-grown Me-Gumi lay on her side with three more cubs suckling against her. Unlike Gumi, one was fully white, another had blue sock markings on its paws and another was more blue with white markings. Only Gumi resembled her parents more as her father placed her down on the ground. The cub shook her fur and yipped, running up to her mother who affectionately cleaned Gumi before the cub went to suckle along with her siblings._

_‘I must be in Gumi’s memories….’  thought Pidge as she watched._

 

* * *

 

_Suddenly there was a flash and the scene changed._

_Pidge heard blasts and footsteps as Galra poachers ran by her._

_Gumi’s parents were smoked out of their den as the mother protectively held her scared cubs in her tail and snarled ferociously while her mate did likewise, threatening the poachers surrounding them._

_A couple of poachers shot at them but the mother Me-Gumi activated a quintessence barrier while the father opened his jaws and fired a blast, causing an explosion while he sent others flying with his tail._

_The father barked at the mother, who nodded and transformed into a wisp, taking off into the air._

_“Don’t let the mother get away!”  Pidge heard one of them yell as some of the poachers began firing nets and blasters into the sky._

_The father not letting them attack his mate howled loudly and the crystals surrounding the area seemed to glow along with him and the markings on his fur as he fired a blast at the crystals and instead of the crystals being destroyed it only seemed to amplify the blast and a large beam of quintessence erupted from the crystals making the poachers scatter giving the male time to turn into a wisp himself and disappear up into the sky with his mate._

_Some Galra managed to avoid the beams and were following the wisps as far as they could on feet, blasting them as much as they could Pidge could tell they would do anyThing to get them since they were powerful beings._

_One Galra soldier looked up at the wisps and aimed a shot, he fired after waiting a few seconds and managed to hit one of the wisp just as they were flying over a large canyon that the Galra would need their ships for. There was a tiny yelp and a stray wisp was falling and the Galra threw out it’s special net and caught the tiny wisp which turned out to be Gumi!_

_The baby Gumi yelped and cried for her parents but they were too far away to hear her tiny cries as the Galra pulled her in. One of the larger soldiers walked up as Gumi whimpered trying to get far away from the scary looking creature._

_“Tch, only managed to get a pup. Let’s move before they decide to come back and try to get their kid back.”_

_“Wouldn’t that be a good opportunity to try and capture them sir?”_

_“You’d think so but there’s a reason why we had to take these creatures by surprise, if they knew we were coming they would’ve put us under some sort of hypnosis while they escaped.”_

_“Tch! That witch better pay us good money for this!” growled one of them as they roughly picked up the pup by the skin of her neck and tossed her into a plasma cage._

_**“NO!”** yelled Pidge, attempting to stop the poachers, only to phase through them, a cruel reminder that this was all just a memory._

 

* * *

 

_There was another flash and suddenly Pidge found herself watching Gumi being forcibly strapped down to a table, whining pitifully._

_She saw Haggar stepping out into the light with one of her Druids who held a familiar looking collar._

_Gumi bared her teeth and growled trying to get the figures to back off but they kept advancing._

_The pup opened her mouth and fired a small energy blast, only to have absorb the attack._

_The Witch smiled cruelly as she looked at the energy sparking around her hand._

_“Such power from such a young thing, the Me-Gumi certainly lives up to its reputation…” she hissed as she gestured to her Druid who stepped forward and clamped the  collar around Gumi’s neck._

_Gumi snarled and tried to bite but the symbols on the collar glowed as it began to spark, causing the pup to yelp in pain._

 

* * *

 

_There was another flash and Pidge found herself in a fighting arena at the zoo they destroyed on Paraden._

_A slightly older Gumi was tossed through a gate as the pup yelped, hitting the ground._

_Gumi looked around, terrified. So much noise! People screaming and yelling!_

_Gumi heard a growl as she looked forward to see a bull like creature snorting and pawing at the ground before charging at the fox._

_Pidge gasped as she watched Gumi fly through the air after getting hit by the full grown bull, smashing into a wall._

_The bull didn’t even give Gumi a chance to recover as she got hooked into the horns and was tossed through the air._

_The bull roared victoriously as Gumi lay on the ground unmoving._

_The collar on Gumi’s neck sparked making the pup writhe in pain when suddenly Gumi’s Third Eye opened for the first time as her eyes began to glow red._

_Gumi lifted her head and howled as her whole body glowed and transformed into a larger more intimidating form._

_The bull lowered its head to charge again, but the newly transformed Gumi lunged first, aiming straight at the beast’s throat as Pidge watched in complete horror witnessing Gumi viciously tear apart her opponent. Blood flew everywhere, coating the arena as the spectators cheered._

_The bull struggled and flailed trying to escape as it bellowed in pain until after a while, it moved no more._

_Blood dripped from  Gumi’s jaws as she panted hard, her eyes still mad with fury as she lifted her head to the sky a released a long, loud howl in victory._

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*FLASH!!!*_ **

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Pidge awoke with a start. She heard frightened whimpering at her side. Pidge turned to see Gumi writhing about uncomfortably.

“Oh Gumi…” Pidge said softly her heart breaking from imaging how many of those fights the little fox child had to go through, she was so young and already had to go through so much at the hands of the Galra." It's okay girl it's okay.. You don't have to fight you're safe now…”

Pidge wrapped her arms tightly around Gumi’s neck as she tried to ease her pain, she kept whispering comforting words to her holding her against her body, the fox whined a bit more before she jolted and tried to struggle before Pidge held her down.

“Gumi it's okay! It's really okay! You're not there anymore you're with us remember? The ones that saved you! Gumi it's Pidge the one you're trying to cheer up remember?” Pidge said as she hugged Gumi.

The fox gave a confused whimper before she gave a small lick to Pidge’s face and nuzzled the younger girl.

“See it's alright...you're safe no more fighting just us trying to get you home back to your family Gumi…” Pidge said softly.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Shiro came to dinner and looked around the table.

“Hey, has anyone seen Gumi?” he asked upon sitting down.

Everyone shook their heads.

“Come to think of it, where has Pidge been?” asked Coran. “I came to check on her in the workshop but she isn't there.”

“Hmm Gumi must still be playing with Pidge,” figured Shiro as Hunk handed him a plate.

“I did see her giving Pidge a ride,” pointed out Hunk.

“Well, as long as they are still in the castle, I suppose we don't have anything to worry about,” pointed out Allura.

Shiro sighed and nodded in agreement.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Back in the scrap room, Pidge continued lying on the floor holding Gumi in her arms.

“I get it…you were only trying to make me feel better Gumi… but I ended making you remember something horrible…”sighed Pidge slowly tracing out the symbols on Gumi’s head.

Gumi touched Pidge’s chin with her nose and whined affectionately to tell her she forgave Pidge.

Pidge stroked the fox’s ears, giving a little smile.

“I miss my family too… We all do….” said the girl softly before scratching Gumi’s chin. “But hey, look on the bright side, at least they are out there… somewhere…alive... and who knows? Maybe they are searching for you too…”

“Kyip~” barked Gumi feeling better as she gave Pidge a long, loving lick to the side of her face so suddenly the her glasses got flicked off and landed on Gumi’s snout.

Pidge grimaced a bit in disgust until she saw Gumi wearing her glasses and burst out laughing.

“Aw Gumi~ I love you too~” she cooed, rubbing her nose against the fox’s.

Gumi’s tail waved furiously as she jumped in the air.

 _“Kyip~!”_ she barked happily, tackling Pidge over and rolled about with the girl, tickling her with her nuzzles while the Green Paladin laughed along in amusement as she wrestled with Gumi.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Elsewhere in the universe, on a distant, crystalline planet, a large male Me-Gumi with a large scar on his shoulder was watching over his mate and three cubs sleeping  when  he suddenly sensed a familiar energy signature as he looked up to the sky.

She’s alive…His youngest cub was still alive…

The Me-Gumi’s eyes flashed as he drew his head back and released a long, loud howl that woke up his pack who drew back their heads and followed suit as they all transformed into wisps and took off into the sky.

  
_They will find her… their little one….._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> Gumi nodded as her tails wagged eager for snacks. As the yellow one was cooking she couldn’t help but watch him curiously, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her head that the Yellow One reminded her of someone. She just couldn’t remember who exactly.
> 
> It was on the tip of her nose. Oh well. 
> 
> Gumi tilted her head at Yellow One. She really liked him. 
> 
> Very nice. Food-bringer.


	4. Yellow One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk is very nice Food-Maker. Much Nice. Fun. So what exactly is he to the team Gumi wonders.

Gumi yawned, she fell asleep next to the Green One in the hangar with the Green Lion as they had made several trips trying to bring as much of the scraps from the room back upstairs so the Green one could use them to fix and make use of the collar and do other things with it that would make her happy.

She saw that the Green One was fast asleep against her lion and decided to see if she could get some food for her, she knew the Green One didn’t eat dinner and trotted out of the hangar heading to the kitchen. When she was near the doorway she could already see the nice Yellow One already making food, she made an excited noise and ran over to the Yellow one nuzzling his side hoping for some snacks.

“Gumi, had a nice time with Pidge?”Hunk asked scratching her behind her ears. “I just started to make food but I’ll give you some food in a bit okay? Is Pidge back in her hangar?”

Gumi nodded as her tails wagged eager for snacks. As the yellow one was cooking she couldn’t help but watch him curiously, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her head that the yellow one reminded her of someone. She just couldn’t remember who exactly.

It was on the tip of her nose. Oh well.

Gumi tilted her head at Yellow One. She really liked him.

Very nice. Food-bringer.

“Here ya go Gumi~” Hunk said, placing steak pieces in front of her.

“Kyip~Kyip!” yipped Gumi, bouncing excitedly before bounding up to him and rubbing against his legs.

“Who’s a Good Gumi~ You are, That's who~” cooed Yellow One in  that funny voice he makes when he scratches good spots.

Gumi crooned enjoyably as Hunk scratched her furry tummy.

Yellow One knows good techniques. Never had belly scratched before. Very nice. Feels fuzzy~

Gumi let out a disappointed whine when Yellow One stopped belly scratches. The fox got up tugging at his apron while pawing his leg.

Hunk smiled and rubbed Gumi’s head before turning to wash his hands.

“Sorry, girl but I can't spend all the time scratching you, silly puppy. I gotta make dinner.”

Gumi chuffed a little in further disappointment and went back to her bowl, eating her steak bits in a quiet tantrum while giving Yellow One the stink eye.

Yellow One happened to noticed as he sighed and knelt down in front of the sulking space fox.

“Aww come on Gumi. Are you pouting? Big pouty baby you~?”

Gumi licked her chops and huffed, turning her head away while thumping her tails against the floor.

“Don't be like that Gumi… I promise, after dinner we can go play alright?”

Gumi huffed again.

“I’ll give you extra leftovers?”

Gumi stuck her nose up higher.

“I’ll throw in extra belly scratches and a brush down?”

Gumi’s eyes lit up as she excitedly turned to Hunk.

“Kyip~kyip~kyip~KYIP~!” she barked enthusiastically, bouncing around Hunk while waving her tails about.

“Alright so I’ll take care of that later with you okay Gumi? Right now I gotta make sure the others are okay so I need to make them some food.” Hunk said smiling as Gumi looking a lot more happier as she settled down by Hunk’s feet and ate her food.

As Hunk was cooking she couldn’t help but think about the yellow one and what he did exactly, she knew he made lots of yummy food for everyone and sometimes he would help out the green one with building things with the metal parts.

She also saw him sometimes try to get the Red and Blue ones to stop fighting, but other than that...she couldn’t really see the Yellow one in a specific role...He was part of a pack and all the pack had to be able to hold themselves up otherwise the weakest one would be left behind.

Gumi knew that the yellow one couldn’t be weak because he was important but she was just confused on what he did besides cooking.

Gumi finished up her bowl as she saw the yellow one moving rather swiftly for one his size around the kitchen as he put together a bunch of different meats and food that was in storage. While continuing to watch him cook, her ears perked up when she saw the Red one come in.

Gumi noticed he was sulking a bit.

Hunk turned around and looked surprised to see him come in as he sat down at the counter.

“You okay Keith?” Hunk asked, as Keith just grunted in reply laying his head down on the counter not saying anything else. Despite the lack of words Hunk chuckled as he seemed to understand what was wrong with Keith, “Did Lance go overboard on one of his challenges with you again?”

“He’s being ridiculous…” Keith muttered. “Just because I don’t understand half the references he says to me when we were actually talking…”

“What were you guys talking about?” Hunk coaxed gently.

“.....We got to talking about stuff we did for fun back home, he talked about movie nights with his family and I told him I didn’t really do much, just fix my bike, go out into the desert and stargaze and track the Blue Lion…” Keith replied before scratching his head with an irritated groan. “Grrr! I thought we were actually bonding over something but he has to go ruin the moment with his dumb pop culture references!”

“Aw, come on Keith. Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on Lance?” questioned Hunk pouring Keith some beverage from the fridge and slid it across the counter to him who caught it easily.

“Me?! What did I do?”

“I’m not saying you did anything, Keith,” said Hunk calmly while putting up his hands. “Look, I get that you like your alone time and that you’re making an effort to bond with the team, but Lance was just trying to make friends in his own….’Lancey’ way.”

Keith raised his head questioningly as he sipped his water pack.

“I get Lance can be a bit….grating but despite what he says...he doesn’t really hate you,” admitted Hunk leaning on the counter. “Maybe you could...just humor Lance a little. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”

Keith gave his drink a long sip before he let out a sigh as he pondered Hunk’s words.

“Yeah….I suppose you’re right…”

Hunk smiled and nodded approvingly as Keith gave Hunk an appreciative nod before leaving the room.

Gumi popped her head up on the counter, panting as she exchanged looks with Hunk.

Hunk patted her head smiling at her.

“Lance and Keith get along most days now, but Lance just has his own way of getting to know someone and sometimes not everyone appreciates it,” Hunk said. "It takes a while to get use to Lance but given the chance he's really not that bad.”

Gumi barked a bit nudging Hunk a bit more wanting to hear a better explanation, she knew the Blue and Red one would fight a lot when they were with the rest of the pack, wasn't it a bad thing that they fought?

“Uh how do I put this, they challenge each other pushing the other to do their very best,” Hunk said."But sometimes they can go overboard which can lead to fights. Usually if you just talk to them and get an explanation out of them you can get them to understand each other better, get it?”

Gumi tilted her head and nodded kinda getting it. It was like when her brother would challenge her other sister and the two of them would play fight trying to pin the other down.

“Kyip!” Gumi replied wagging her tails making Hunk chuckle.

“They're great friends though and are a team you don't want to mess with once they can put their ‘rivalry’ aside,” Hunk said.

Gumi laid down by Hunk’s feet thinking about what she just learned. The yellow one was good at talking, and making others understand another person. So was he just someone who calmed inter pack fighting? Gumi huffed quietly as her ears flattened against her head, that still didn't sound right for the Yellow one.

Gumi made a little frustrated grumble as she scratched her ear.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi soon forgot her thoughts once it was playtime as Hunk held up an interesting looking knotted rope made from old scrap material.

Gumi didn't know why but something is telling her she must have rope!

Why does Yellow keep waving rope?!

Give it! Give it!

“Kyip! Kyip!” barked Gumi impatiently, thumping the floor with her tail while jumping at the rope which Hunk made sure to hold it out of reach.

“You want the rope girl?! You want it?!”

“Kyip-kyip-kyip!” barked Gumi even more impatiently.

What an odd question! Isn't it obvious?!

Hunk swung the rope above his head. “Ok Gumi! Fetch Girl!!!” he yelled flinging the toy across the training room as Gumi gave an excited bark and scurried after it.

Gumi barked happily as she turned into a wisp chasing after the rope before reappearing and catching it in her mouth.

She looked proud as she trotted back to Hunk who laughed scratching her ears.

“Good girl, you're such a fast strong girl aren't you? Yes you are! Yes you are!” Hunk cooed making Gumi’s tails thumped against the floor.

She chewed on rope a bit but then she felt a tug. Yellow was trying to pull the rope away from her!

No! My Rope!

Gumi growled as she pulled back but Yellow was laughing as he pulled as well.

“Come on Gumi let's see if you can get the rope from me girl!” Hunk laughed as he saw Gumi’s paws trying to get some foothold against Hunk to give her leverage.

Give Rope! Give!!

“Yeah! Come On Gumi!”

Gumi flattened her ears as she continued tugging. Yellow One is worthy adversary! But Gumi is stronger!!

Gumi’s tails bellowed about her, batting in Hunk’s face making him splutter as he spat out some fur.

“Ptoo!! Hey! No fair!!”

Gumi gave a cheeky muffled yip as she continued batting Hunk with her tails.

“Gah!” went Hunk suddenly as finally let go, sending them both tumbling in opposite directions.

Gumi looked swirly eyed as she slowly got up and shook her head before realizing she got the rope.

The fox yipped excitedly, jumping in place victoriously until she turned to Yellow One.

Hunk was lying on his back, not moving at all.

Gumi cocked her head to the side as she trotted up to him with the rope in her mouth. She nudged him with her paw but he still didn't move.

Gumi sniffed Hunk a little before raising an ear.

Suddenly, panic gripped her.

Oh no! Yellow one not breathing!

Gumi let out series of panicked whines and whimpers as she nudged Hunk all over, trying to revive him.

It wasn't until she started licking his face Hunk suddenly released a huge snort of laughter as he revealed to have been faking it.

“Pfft!! Hahaha!!!! Ha-Gumi! Stop! Pfft-Stop- BWAHAHAHA!!!” guffawed Hunk hysterically as he tried to wrestle a relieved Gumi off him while she peppered him with kisses.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi emitted pleasurable whines as Hunk  and Lance ran brushes through her fur.

“Hold still Gumi~” commanded Lance, hugging one of Gumi’s  wiggling tails while trying to brush it properly.

Hunk was brushing Gumi’s chest and belly while scratching her chin.

“You like tummy scratches don'tcha Gumi~ Who loves her tummy scratched? Gumi does~” cooed Hunk as Gumi panted happily while wiggling about.

“Huuunk!” whined Lance in complaint as he got batted left and right by the remaining fox tails waving about in pleasure.

“Ahaha what? I’m just showing Gumi how much I love her! Yes I do!” Hunk grinned as he scratched her belly even more and Lance got a mouthful of fur making him cough and sputter as he tried to grab the tails again but with how happy Gumi was with the bellyrubs it was a difficult task.

“Hunk come on! At least help me brush her tails then!” Lance complained as he tugged on one of her tails, “Come on Gumi you want your fur to be nice, sleek, and soft right? It’ll make you extra pretty~”

“Kyip!” Gumi exclaimed as she calmed her tails down letting Hunk and Lance brush them, she had to admit she couldn’t remember ever getting pampered like this as she laid her head down on the floor just letting the two paladin’s brush her fur.

“Wow surprisingly her fur is all soft,” Lance said as he ran his fingers through the fur, “I mean I half expected knots with all the fighting she’s done.”

“Well don’t forget Shiro bathed her too so some of the castle shampoo probably helped get rid of any knots she had previously.” Hunk pointed out when he found an old scar buried under Gumi’s coat along the ridge of her back.

Hunk sighed as his fingers traced the scar. “Man...it must have really hurt when you got this scar huh, girl?”

Gumi made a little warble in her throat in response, not lifting her head.

“I think she wants you to drop it Hunk…” stage whispered Lance, vigorously brushing out her tail.

“Yeah…” mumbled Hunk in agreement as he slowly brushed out another tail.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The next day, Gumi continued to shadow Hunk as she stayed close by his heels curious to see how else he contributed to the group.

So far she could see the Yellow One was a food-bringer and peace-maker but surely that is not all there is?

Gumi sat up in the control booth with Allura and Coran, her paws on the windows as she quietly watched Hunk in combat training with others. Gumi tilted her head.

Yellow One was the largest and quite strong. Why is he not on the frontline?

He reminded her much of the Ursox she met on Paraden. But even Ursox knew how to put up a fight.

Gumi grew up learning that weak member is useless member. Yellow One… seemed like weak but… not weak…

Gumi is confused with Yellow One.

She watched as the yellow one was shooting at the droids with the blue one though compared to the blue one he was making less shots. When his attacks hit the droids they would be pushed back into either Keith or Shiro who would then take care of it.

Gumi whined  still wanting to know what the yellow one’s role was, pushed her legs onto the glass panel to try and get a better look down below.

Gumi flattened her ears as she tail-thumped the floor irritably.

Gumi will find out! Gumi wants to know!!!

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Hunk lay flat out on the couch, snoring loudly.

A pair of ears perked up as Gumi stealthily wisped into the room. Gumi slowly peeked up her head and cautiously poked Hunk’s face when suddenly he gave a particularly loud snore that startled Gumi making her jump to the ceiling and latched on.

Hunk smack his lips as he scratched his belly before resuming his nap.

Once Gumi was sure Hunk was properly asleep, she unlatched herself and floated gently to the ground.

The fox once again silently padded up to Hunk and placed her snout on his forehead as she concentrated on opening her Third Eye.

**_*Flash!*_ **

Gumi found herself in a most colorful land of fruits, sweets and meats.

It was certainly….. Different….

She walked around curiously sniffing everything and it was all so mouthwatering but she had to focus! She needed to find the yellow one!

She sniffed the ground and tried to follow some sort of scent, she kept her head to the ground until she heard giggling. Looking up she saw two girls running by wearing flowered dresses, seeing this as a sign she followed them until she got to an opening where she saw the yellow one putting together a picnic. Not only that but there were other people who looked similar to Hunk, some strange rock like creatures too and even the other good ones were there!

_Big brother Hunk!_

_Hunkkkyyyy!!_

Hunk turned around and laughed as he kneeled down and the girls giggled running into his arms.

_Kiki! Mimi! There you two are! I was worried!_

Gumi observed Hunk happily serving others food he made.

Much smiles and merriment all around.

No fighting. No Yelling.

Just Happiness.

And it was all coming from Yellow One.

Gumi enjoyed  the feelings in this dream. However the fox noticed some dark skies in the distance. Dark clouds against a purple sky were rolling in ominously.

Gumi began to notice the laughter around her cease as the land were the dark shadows touched began to disintegrate. She turned to Yellow One.

Everyone else had disappeared, but Hunk was left behind looking lost and scared.

A loud clap of thunder sounded out.

**_*Flash!*_ **

Hunk and Gumi awoke to the alarms blaring throughout the castle.

The Galra had found them again.

:: **_Paladins! Get to your lions now! Distract the Galra while we try to form a wormhole to jump! We don't know how much time we have before they decide to send another RoBeast!::_ **

“Huh wha!?” Hunk exclaimed trying to make sense,”shoot! Gumi you better go back to Coran and Allura I’ll go to head to my lion!”

What!? She can't leave the Yellow One! She was starting to figure out the Yellow One’s purpose in the pack! She knew Leader would be upset at her for not staying with the princess and the Hairy face one but she had to know the Yellow One’s role! Turning into a wisp and followed after the Yellow one all the at into his lion, she hid in the back of the Yellow One’s cockpit as he took off into space taking down the Galra droids.

It was hard keeping quiet and in one place but she managed to keep steady as she watched them taking down the evil ones with their lions.

As Hunk was piloting he suddenly heard Keith yelling **::Hunk behind you!::**

Turning his lion around he saw a bout of flames destroy three fighter drones that near got him in the back, he flew off triangle to get away but he was noticing that a lot of the fighter droids were following him.

**::What's going on!? They've never targeted a single lion before!?::** Keith grunted as he took down more of the pilots as Lance followed up with his own attacks. **::Are they trying to separate us again!?::**

**::Hunk do you have any idea?::** Hunk could hear Shiro ask worried, :: **Is there anything different about the yellow lion?::**

“I don't know!? Hey Yellow, do you have any idea girl?” Hunk asked as he blasted another few droids while trying to avoid getting hit with the majority of the others.

The lion gave a low growl in response.

At that moment, Coran’s panicked voice came projecting through.

**::Has anyone seen the Me-Gumi?!::**

**::We can't find her!::** exclaimed the princess in the background.

A moment of realization hit Hunk as he widened his eyes and slowly turned his head to find his nose pressed up against a cold wet nose and Gumi smiled sheepishly at him.

“Hey Guys…. I think solved two mysteries at once….”

**::Hunk, please,** ** _PLEASE_** **tell us that Gumi is not in your Lion….::** Keith was heard groaning.

“Uuuuh…… ok I won't.”

There was a collection of groans and exclamations.

**::What the hell is Gumi doing in your Lion!?::** Pidge yelled.

**::Holy quiznak Hunk you need to get her back to the castle!::** Lance said.

:: **Gumi we are going to have a talk about sneaking into the Lions,::** Shiro groaned out.

Gumi whined as she pawed at Hunk but the yellow paladin shook his head as he turned his Lion around to head back to the castle. At least… he tried to but during his conversation with the others the droid fighter planes had surrounded Hunk.

“Guuuuys?!”

  **::Everyone cover Hunk until he can get Gumi back in the castle!::** Shiro called out as he flew his lion forward, activating his jaw blade and charged.

 The other three lions did likewise as they forced the droids to scatter while Hunk took the opportunity to escape.

 Unfortunately, Hunk still had flyers on his tail making it too risky to head back to the castle.

 Gumi barked and growled as Hunk began performing more evasive maneuvers.

The Yellow Lion opened its jaws and opened fire but for every drone shot down, two more just seemed to appear. Hunk gritted his teeth in frustration. The situation was getting more and more out of hand and Gumi’s incessant barking was not helping.

  _“GUMI WILL YOU JUST **SHUT UP**_ _FOR A COUPLE OF TICS?!”_ snapped Hunk so fiercely that a stunned Gumi silenced herself and lay on the floor.

 Hunk huffed through his nostrils and went back to concentrate on flying them to safety.

 The other pilots including the Alteans who also heard Hunk’s outburst were also stunned silent briefly until it was Allura who broke it.

  ** _::Um… Paladins! Attention! The wormhole will be ready soon! Buy us some more time for a little bit longer.::_**

  **::Roger that Princess::** acknowledged Shiro. **::Alright Guys, you heard her!::**

  ** _::Got It! ::_** replied the rest in unison.

 The battle from then was trying to clear a way for Hunk or at least keeping him away from the majority of the fighter jets, though the others were still in a bit of shock at how angry the usual calm Hunk snapped at Gumi.

 Gumi meanwhile had her ears pressed against her head looking upset. She didn’t mean to make the yellow one angry at her, she was just trying to help him by telling him when the bad ones were too close...the yellow one is the nicest of the good ones always playing with her and feeding her extra snacks.

 Now she felt guilty.

 Gumi sniffed as she folded her paws over her eyes.

 There was a deep rumbling from the yellow one’s lion as Hunk glanced back at the sad Gumi.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The paladins were successful enough to buy enough time for Allura to generate a wormhole, letting everyone escape just moments before the Druids new Robeast appeared.

 Everyone breathed huge sighs of relief upon docking back in the castle.

 Gumi kept her head low as she meekly trailed after Hunk.

 Hunk felt really bad for yelling at Gumi. She was probably really scared back there with all the chaos.

 Gumi was feeling scared now. Gumi was bad. Gumi disobeyed order. Gumi made Yellow One mad.

 “Gumi I-” Hunk was about to say when Gumi flinched in fear and scurried back a bit, whimpering.

 Yellow One was going to punish her!

 Pidge and Lance stayed behind to wait while Keith and Shiro went ahead. The Blue and Green Paladin exchanged looks feeling sorry for the two.

  _“Poor Gumi….she looks so scared…”_ noted Lance watching Gumi cower away from Hunk.

  _“If Hunk suddenly yelled at you, wouldn’t you be?”_  Pidge whispered back.

  _“Okay good point, but upsetting Hunk is one thing, making him mad is another.”_ Lance replied looking at Hunk as he tries to figure out how to talk to Gumi without scaring her.

 He kneeled down so he was at her eyesight and looked at her as he held his hand out to her. Gumi looked up at the yellow one still scared she would upset him more.

 “Gumi I know I scared you, I shouldn't have yelled at you even though the situation was tense and I'm sorry,” Hunk said softly,” I didn't mean to scare you I was just worried about getting you to safety because we didn't want you to get captured again.”

 Gumi’s ears raised a tiny bit, though she kept herself low to the floor she scooted a bit closer to Hunk, but still keeping her head down.

 “It's okay Gumi I won't yell at you again I promise, you just have to listen to us when we want to keep you safe okay?” Hunk added gently holding out his hand to Gumi.

 Gumi gave a sorrowful whine, looking slightly confused.

 Was… was she not to be punished?

 Hunk seemed to sense Gumi’s hesitation and lay down on his stomach to meet Gumi’s eye level. He then gently reached to Gumi again.

 The fox flinched, closing her eyes until she began to feel the familiar pleasant scratching sensation behind her ear. Gumi couldn't help but lean into the scratching, making Hunk smile.

 “There we go…..good girl Gumi…. You’re okay…. Shh… I won't hurt you…..” cooed Hunk softly.

 Gumi knew this feeling…she remembered.....

_An image of her father scolding her for running off alone…..Gumi curling up alone in a corner of the den…suddenly her father drops her a piece of Prey and nudges it towards her. Gumi smiles and munches on the carcass as her father lay beside her and groomed her fur._

 It was a pleasant memory.

 Gumi finally got it…. Yellow One reminded her of her father.

 Yellow One was gentle yet firm, he keeps the peace in the pack when Leader cannot. He provides for what the others cannot and others provide for what he cannot.

 Gumi could not believe how simple it was. All this time Gumi was so hung up on wondering what his place was in the team, when all this time, it really didn’t matter.

 Yellow One was a Good One. He was one of the Pack. He was Family.

 And that is all what really matters.

 Lance and Pidge smiled when they saw the tension leaving Gumi’s body as she began to respond to Hunk’s gentle hand. The two nodded to each other in satisfaction and quietly left the two alone.

 

Things were gonna be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> “I miss home Gumi,” Lance said softly making Gumi turn her head to look at Lance."It’s been probably weeks or months since I last saw my family since me and the others came here. ”
> 
> Gumi’s ears flatten against her head. She knew the feeling she missed her own home and her family, she was happy that the good ones were bringing her back but it must be difficult for the blue one to go home. She pressed her nose against Lance’s cheek whining as Lance gave a soft sigh.
> 
> “I wish I could see them Gumi...my home...my family…”


	5. Feeling Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blue One is homesick. Gumi just wants to help.

Gumi was unsure how long has it it been staying in the castle but she has had fun getting to know the people so far.

 Each of them were fascinating to follow and had their own thing.

 Leader was a fine Leader of the Pack. Truly the Alpha.

 The Princess was kind and treated her with much respect although she might be a little too serious.

 Hairy Faced one was just weird. He says funny things and always bows to her, but he never wants to play.

 Green One had grown more accepting of Gumi although she keeps hiding her cold, metal toys. It’s fun digging through metal pile with her though.

 Yellow One was always a delight.  He makes good food, he gives Gumi special brushing and knows of special tickle spots.

 Red One was….kinda mean...maybe a little grouchy perhaps.

 “WHOO YEAH! Did you see that hole I fired through the RoBeast? That’s right! Lance did that!” boasted Lance as he came through the hangar doors where Gumi was waiting for Shiro.

 And then there was Blue One….

 “Alright we get it, you shot the RoBeast!” groaned Keith exasperatedly rolling his eyes as Lance did a celebratory moonwalk.

 Gumi yipped as she bounded up to Shiro, jumping in his arms.

 “Hey Gumi~” greeted the Black Paladin as Gumi cuddled with him. “Lance, you did a good job, but no more show-boating, that’s the third RoBeast they set on us in five days.”

Lance stopped his dance and nodded in acknowledgement. “Aye sir!” he said with a salute.

Gumi tilted her head. She was fond of Blue One, but she noticed how everybody seemed annoyed at his antics. Which was confusing because when Gumi wanted to play they never gave her the same faces or weird noises they made when Blue One wanted to play.

Well...except for Red One...but that’s beside the point.

Yet despite all that, Blue One still had a big smile on his face. He never let anything affect him for too long. Gumi liked that about Blue One.

She gave Shiro one more lick on the face before jumping out of his arms and walking up to the Blue one wanting pets from him. The Blue one looked happy as kneeled down and took her face in both his hands and started to give her good scratches.

"Aw you’re such a sweetie Gumi!” The Blue one cooed getting one of the good spots under her chin making her whine happily.“We’re pretty close to where Gumi comes from right?”

“I’ll check with Coran but last I checked thanks to Pidge and Shiro’s recount on seeing where Gumi lived he as a good idea where we’re going,” Shiro said sighing. “Alright everyone take a break but stay alert we don’t know when we’ll run into Zarkon and his forces again.”

“I’m kinda worried though,” Hunk said folding his arms.“Once we get Gumi home what’s stopping them from hunting her and her family again? Especially if the Galra keep following us they’ll see where Gumi lives as well. Not to mention they found the planet once already.”

“He’s got a point as good as I am hiding a whole planet is going to require a lot more than we have at our hands,” Pidge sighed pushing up her glasses trying to come up with something.

“Let’s meet up with Coran and the Princess after all of us has washed out of our suits, you bring up good points if this cat and mouse chase continues.” Shiro said looking at Gumi nuzzling Lance’s hand wanting more scratches from the Blue Paladin who was more than happy to oblige.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi rolled in Lance’s lap looking absolutely blissful as Lance slowly scratched her tummy with nice, long comforting strokes.

She let out a pleasurable warble as she booped Lance’s face.

Lance chuckled as he grabbed Gumi’s paw and squeezed her paw pads.

“Sigh…...I’m gonna really miss Gumi once we get her back home,” sighed Lance as Gumi cuddled with him.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you started coddling her,” scoffed Keith passing by.

Lance hung his mouth open with a scoff of disbelief. “Woah, uncalled for Keith! Uncalled for!”

Gumi flopped her ears down looking hurt.

Lance hugged Gumi while scowling at Keith’s back. “You happy now Keith? She’s upset! I hope you’re proud of yourself!”

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance. “Whatever man,” he said walking out of the lounge.

“Don’t listen to Mr.Angry grumpy pants Gumi, he doesn’t know what he’s missing playing with you,” Lance huffed as he scratched Gumi again under her chin. “Probably the only animals he’s played with were snakes or whatever lived near the shack of a house.”

Gumi whined though the Blue one did make her feel better with his comforting, though now that she thought about it the Red one was the only one that hasn’t really spent time with her for some reason.

“Keith doesn’t know how awesome and adorable you are, you’re the best Me-Gumi ever!” Lance said huffing as he snuggled Gumi’s fluffy fur. It was all soft and smelled nice from the brushing and baths she’d been given by Shiro. “Don’t worry about his opinion but you’re gunna miss us too right?”

Gumi wagged her tail nuzzling Lance as she plopped herself in Lance’s lap nuzzling his face again before licking it eagerly, eliciting a laugh from the Blue One.

“Ahahaha okay okay I get it Gumi you’re gunna miss us too,” Lance laughed, as Gumi seemed pleased and got herself comfortable in the Blue one’s lap. “Even though it’s only been a few days you really feel like family Gumi.”

“Kyip~!” barked Gumi in agreement, Lance a lick on the chin.

Yup. Blue One was definitely up on her list of favorite people.

Now if only she knew what a list was….

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi padded down the hallways after her midday snack with Yellow one.

Who to hangout with?

Yellow One was busy with Green One doing stuff again with their toys.

Leader was concentrating on talking with the Princess and Hairy-Faced One in the Library to even notice her.

Gumi transformed into a wisp and began ghosting through walls for walls to search for the others. Red One was in the Training Room slashing things up, no surprise there, Red One seems to have a penchant for battling.

Gumi hovered in the air briefly as she watched him take on two sword wielding drones.

He always seems so angry about something.

The fox shook her head  as she continued phasing through the walls. She wouldn't bother with him. He wouldn't play with her anyway.

That left the Blue One. He was always up for a game.

She stopped where she was and sniffed the air, not for the blue one’s scent but for his quintessence. It took only a few moments for her to lock onto the blue one and with a happy yip she turned into a wisp disappearing.

She phased through a few walls before she stopped in front of a large set of double doors her tail wagging happily. She found the blue one he was behind here, she kind of wondered why he was so far away from the others, the blue one was someone she saw usually with everyone and talking to them. She padded forward the doors opening automatically and she entered the large observatory. She tilted her head it was pretty but where where was the blue one? She walked around until she spotted a mop of brown hair, just as she was about to pounce on him she stopped herself. There was something off about the Blue one, she sniffed the air and looked concerned.

She could sense sadness coming off of him, why was Blue one sad?

Lance had the entire galaxy projected before him as he lay on the floor and stared. His gaze was fixated on a particular solar system, especially on a little blue planet.

Suddenly, a cold wet nose poking into his cheek snapped him out of his daze.

“Hey Gumi…. Care to join me?”

“Kyip~” barked Gumi softly before rolling onto her back next to Lance.

“Well I always wanted to stargaze with a beautiful girl,” sighed Lance before glancing over to Gumi with a small smile.  “Not what I had in mind, but I guess you’ll do too.”

Gumi raised an eye at Lance and huffed in his face making him laugh as he rubbed her head before turning back to projection of Earth.

Gumi gave a questioning whine following his gaze.

“That's Earth, my planet. You ever been there?”

Gumi tilted her head.

Lance chuckled a little. “Of course you haven't. But you're kind probably might have. We’ve had stories of creatures similar to your species back on Earth.”

 “Kyip?”

 Lance shrugged."Who knows right? Maybe you have Earth cousins.”

 Gumi wondered what a cousin was but rolled closer to Lance until she was cuddling at his side, which made Lance smile as he threw an arm around her and gently scratch her belly making her purr.

 “I miss home Gumi,” Lance said softly making Gumi turn her head to look at Lance."It’s been probably weeks or months since I last saw my family since me and the others came here. ”

 Gumi’s ears flatten against her head. She knew the feeling she missed her own home and her family, she was happy that the good ones were bringing her back but it must be difficult for the blue one to go home. She pressed her nose against Lance’s cheek whining as Lance gave a soft sigh.

 “I wish I could see them Gumi...my home...my family…”

 Gumi whined a bit before an idea struck her. Quickly, she wiggled herself back to her feet and tugged at Lance’s sleeve to get up.

 “What is it girl?” asked Lance sitting up.

 Gumi padded forward and sat in front of him before wrapping him up in her tails.

 “Gumi?” Lance said confused as the fox bowed her head and gently brought Lance’s close to hers.

 Gumi began to glow with Quintessence as her Third Eye slowly opened. Lance found himself staring at his own reflection in her eye, mesmerized.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

  ** _*FLASH!*_**

**_\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

 Suddenly Lance found himself waking up in his own bed.

 He gave a yawn as he stretched. Suddenly there was a knock on the door as a slightly older woman popped her head in.

 “Rise and Shine Lancey-Doodle!” the woman said cheerful making Lance groan.

 “Uuuggghhh… enough with dumb nickname Dani…..I'm 17 years old…”

“Please no one ever outgrows their nickname _niño_ so suck it up it!” Dani replied as Lance groaned and fell back into the bed and pulled the covers over his head grumbling. He heard the woman give a huff before she left. Feeling that he won he settled back into fall back asleep when the sounds of little feet were heard.

“ ** _BANZAI!!”_ ** Three voices shouted and suddenly Lance found himself short of breath with three giggling lumps on top of him. Pulling the sheets off he saw three innocent looking kids staring at him as the woman was leaning against the door smirking.

“ _Hermana!!_ ” Lance yelled at Dani as the kids were giggling up at Lance.

“Big brother, Dani says you have to get up!” The boy said pulling at his pajama top. “Mama made lot at of chorizo and eggs and and even homemade tortillas!”

“And Daddy is helping making huevos ranchero too! Hurry!! Before Alberto eats it all again!” One of the girls whined the girl who looked similar to her nodded silently.

“Dani invited her boyfriend too and he's already there helping himself to the food,” the other girl added quietly making Dani turn red and the boy gasping.

“Seeeeeee! Lance come on!! You know how much Dani’s _novio_ is with food unguarded!” The boy whined pulling more insistently on his shirt sleeve.

“Alright! Alright! Hugo! Ana! Lucia! Get off me!”

The three kids giggled as scurried off their brother and ran past their oldest sister.

“You suck Daniela…” muttered Lance nudging past his sister who chuckled and nudged him back.

“Love you too bro~”

Lance sat down at the breakfast table eating his mother’s cooking enthusiastically.

“Mmm! Oh man, Hunk may be a great cook, but Mama you’re cooking is still number one!” exclaimed Lance.

“ ** _Cough-_ ** _kiss ass!_ **_-Cough!”_ ** jabbed Daniela subtly within earshot of Lance.

“Only to you _hermana,_ weren’t you planning to ditch us to spend time with your _novio?”_ Lance shot back and yelped when Dani’s face burned red again as she kicked him underneath the table making Lance hiss and the younger kids giggle.

“Children...” their father said looking amused as he set some more chorizo and eggs at the table which Alberto and Nico were fighting over,” and you promised Lucia and Ana you’d take them shopping for their ballet outfits Dani.”

“Can’t Lance do it?” Daniela grumbled pouting but Nico leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“Don’t be mean to your brother, the twins are sweet I don’t mind taking them shopping with you _bambi~”_ Nico said looking at Dani fondly as the woman turned red and huffed.

“Alright fine I did promise,” Dani sighed making the twins cheer loudly.

“Big Brother Lance you promised to play _futbol_ with me and dad! You said you’d play goalie so I can practice my shots for my game this weekend!” Hugo said grinning looking excited, “right dad?”

“Yes that’s why I took time off from work, can’t miss your first _futbol_ game. All of us will be there Hugo don’t worry.” Their father said smiling, “we’ll practice so much you’ll be able to move through the other team so fast they won’t realize you stole the ball from them.”

“Lucky all of you I have to go to work,” Alberto sighed dramatically.“Someone still has to be around to keep the city safe while you all get to play.”

That earned him a nice swat from their mother.

“Don’t be a brat Alberto you took the extra shifts so you didn’t have to work this weekend and you were saving up that trip to the mountains with your friends so don’t you complain or I’ll give you something to complain about mister,” Lance’s mom said waving her wooden spoon in Alberto’s face.

“Sorry Mama…..” said Alberto meekly while the others laughed.

Lance looked around the table and smiled warmly. This was nice.

He was home.

* * *

 

Back in reality, Lance was slumped against Gumi’s body.

Gumi was pleased. Blue One was having nice sleep story judging by the smile on his face.

Scooping him up with her tails, Gumi gently cradled him on her back and carried him back to his quarters.

Now Blue One can enjoy his sleep story~

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The team was gathered in the training room waiting impatiently.

“Where the heck is Lance?” demanded an irritated Pidge.

“He wandered off earlier, did any of you guys see him?” Hunk asked looking at Keith and Shiro.

 “No I was with the Princess talking about what to do when we do finally get to Gumi’s home, Keith?” Shiro asked looking at the red paladin who shook his head.

 “No I was training earlier but I did head back to my room to rest, but he didn’t seem to be in his room. It was quiet at the time,” Keith replied folding his arms tightly, though there was a bit of concern in his indigo eyes.

 “Hmm this is odd, we better find him it’s not like him to miss training like this since it's not morning training,” Shiro sighed. “Alright we’ll postpone training until we find Lance.”

 There were some sighs of relief from the others as they nodded and separate to find their missing blue paladin. Hunk checked the kitchens again while Pidge was checking on her tablet to find Lance she frowned when she saw some heat source by the beds.

 “Hmm he’s not with Blue which is odd since he usually spends time with her,” Hunk said getting back to Pidge.“Any luck?”

 “I did see him in the observation deck with Gumi from one of the cameras but other than that I can’t’ find him?” Pidge replied sighing. “Maybe we should have Shiro call for Gumi and see if she can find him?”

 “Think he fell asleep in the observation deck? or his room actually?” Pidge said as Keith came back from looking for Lance too.

 “He wasn’t in there when I came back from the training deck earlier,” Keith said frowning.

 “Lance could’ve gone in when you were napping.” Hunk pointed out.

 “Good Point, let's go,” agreed Keith as the group made their out.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

 Gumi was lying in bed with Lance, when she heard footsteps coming towards them. She lifted her head just as the door opened to see Hunk, Pidge and Keith come in.

 “And there he is fast asleep….” muttered Keith.

 “In his defense, Gumi’s like a living, breathing deluxe body pillow,” pointed out Pidge while Hunk nodded in agreement.

 Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever let's just wake him up and go.”

 Gumi saw the Red Paladin approaching and reaching out to Lance.

 He wants to disturb Blue One’s sleep story!

 Keith quickly jumped back when Gumi crouched over Lance’s body and snapped at him with a warning growl.

 "Hey! We need Lance to wake up it’s time for training.” Keith said scowling down at Gumi who was still bristling at Keith hovering over the Blue Paladin protectively. “Stupid Fox-Dog…”

 “Gumi sweetie, Keith is right. We have our afternoon training and we kinda need Lance to join us,” Hunk asked in a softer voice trying to ease Gumi into letting go of their friend.

 Gumi still wouldn’t listen making Hunk and Keith look at each other concerned as Pidge tried talking to Gumi, even bribing her to playing fetch with her down in their secret junkyard together.

“Damn, she’s stubborn,” Pidge sighed looking at Gumi who was using her tails as a blanket to Lance. “We should probably grab Shiro since she listens to him more than any of us.”

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Gumi looked conflicted when Leader came in. She stopped baring her teeth and growling but not even Leader is allowed to disturb Blue One's sleep story.

Gumi pressed her body low over Lance’s sleeping form making a warbling sound.

“Woah… not even Shiro?” said Hunk in surprise.

“Have you tried waking up Lance?” asked Shiro walking back to the group.

 “Yelled, called, clapped, whistled, even Pidge’s entire sound library of horns and alarms,” replied Hunk counting off on his fingers. “Why do you even have that?”

 “Not important, anyways Lance is out like a light. And usually he’s a pretty light sleeper…. When his ears aren’t plugged…” Pidge noted. “Just what are we gonna do?”

“Gumi won’t let us anywhere near her, we’ve tried everything there too,” Keith said running a hand through his hair. “Pidge tried bribing playing with her, Hunk tried food, I found her rope chew-toy and nothing seemed to make her want to leave Lance,”

 “Gumi, we have things we need to do and we need Lance in order to do the training. We can’t be a paladin short,” Shiro said looking at Gumi but she wouldn’t budge even when she’s being reprimanded. “Gumi…”

 “What are you all doing here? Why is Lance still asleep?” Allura asked frowning wondering what was taking her Paladins so long to come back with their Blue Paladin, she saw Gumi laying on top of him protectively and looked at the others. “Someone explain to me please.”

 “Well obviously Lance is asleep and Gumi has something to do with it and won’t let us near her to wake Lance up, not even Shiro who she usually always listens to.” Pidge said frowning, “I wonder if this has something to do with her abilities.”

“Urgh, wish we had some sort of universal translator for animals,” Hunk groaned. “It would be so much easier to talk to Gumi.”

“I’d try make one in a few hours but we kinda need Lance now,” Pidge piped up.

“Hmmm perhaps we do have a translator of sorts,” Allura said as she called the mice and they popped out of a small passage from Lance’s room. “Chulatt, Platt, Plachu, Chuchule,I need you to talk to Gumi and ask her why she isn’t letting us wake Lance up.”

The mice saluted and clamored onto the bed. They appeared to argue a bit about who to go forward until three of them unceremoniously shoved Plachu, the smallest, forward.

Plachu huffed at the trio before marching forward.

Everyone watched the exchanging of squeaking and Kyipping until Plachu nodded and went back to Allura.

Allura widened her eyes at the news. “What?!”

“I know that tone… that's not a good ‘What’...” said Hunk nervously.

“Me-Gumi said that Lance was feeling sad so she’s letting him have a nice… sleep story… was it?”

Plachu nodded in confirmation.

“How sweet… tell her we need him up,” said Keith with a slight hint of blunt sarcasm in his voice.

 That was when Allura’s expression grew concerned and shook her head.

 “Unfortunately, Gumi says she can’t do anything….”

 “She put him under it, can’t she wake him up?” Keith asked started to get worried. “Exactly how long do these sleep stories last?”

 The group watched with baited breath as Plachu talked with Gumi again in a series of squeaks and barks, even Gumi looked at Lance concerned as she whined back to the mouse as Plachu waved her tiny arms frantically.

 Gumi let out a series of more barks as she whined curling up against Lance again.

 Plachu ran back to Allura and ran up to her arm and squeaked rapidly into her ears making her eyes widen looking between Plachu and Gumi worried.

 “Plachu are you sure?” Allura asked biting her lips.

 “Princess what is it? Can Lance wake up from it?” Shiro asked worried. “Lance CAN wake up right?”

 “He can but...Plachu says it has to be by his own volition...if we force him awake it could cause trouble for his mind, usually when the Me-Gumi’s put someone in a sleep story they’re woken up not too long from when they slumber...though it usually depends on the person.”

 “But he’s already been asleep for hours how much longer is he going to sleep for?” Pidge asked worriedly as the others started to mirror her expression. “What exactly is Lance dreaming about anyway?”

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

**_Meanwhile…._ **

\---------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Whoo-Hoo!!!” whooped Lance as he nosed up on a wave with his surf board before riding it back down at rapid speed.

“Try to keep up Baby bro~!” teased Daniela, slapping Lance’s back as she surfed past her brother, laughing while Lance almost lost his balance.

“Oh it is **_ON like Voltron,_ ** Hermana!!” declared Lance.

On the beach, Nicolas and the rest of the family cheered wildly for the two.

 

* * *

 

“Gumi says each sleep story is personal, only the person in the dream can see what they wish. If Gumi went inside to see she wouldn't see anything.” Allura translates from the mice.

 “So like Harry Potter and the mirror of Erised?” Hunk said making Shiro give a weak chuckle and Pidge blink and gasped while Keith looked a bit confused.

 “That's actually a really good reference, and probably suits this to a T!” Pidge said and Shiro was about to protest but the Green Paladin waves her arms shushing him. “No seriously! Think about it! Harry kept going to the mirror because why? Because he could see his **_parents_** , his **_family_** who he's only heard stories of! When Ron looked in the mirror he saw himself standing above his family and getting recognition! Only difference is Harry kept going back until someone talked to him about the mirror!”

“So you're saying one of us has to play Dumbledore and get Lance to realize he's trapped?” Hunk asked.

 The Alteans just exchanged confused looks with each other.

 “Uuummm….. Yes?” said Allura totally lost by the unfamiliar referencing.

 “And how are we supposed to do it if this…overstuffed, dream-coma inducing, Fluff Pillow can't?” Keith demanded side glaring Gumi who chuffed at him.

 “Well…” Allura began, glancing at Plachu who fed her instructions. “The Me-Gumi won't be able to see but she **can** transfer your consciousness into his sleep story…But the parties must be willing and remain self aware at all times.”

Pidge rubbed her hands gleefully." **_Alriiight,_ ** We are doing this Matrix style!"

Gumi gave a yip making Plachu nod.

“She says she can only allow two at most. Anymore might make Lance’s brain…” Allura translated before grimacing a little. “Explode…literally…..”

Everybody else cringed simultaneously at the thought.

“Okay so Shiro is definitely going....who else?” Pidge asked looking at the other Paladins, “Hunk maybe? You and Lance are best friends so he would listen to you for reason.”

“Hmm yeah I can see that could work,” The yellow Paladin said folding his arms. “But as much as I hate to say this maybe not.”

“What do you mean?” Allura asked curiously as Hunk sighed playing with his headband.

 “Look if Lance is dreaming what I think he probably is, Me being there would just make him stay deeper, Shiro I’m not sure would have the same effect,” Hunk explained. “Me being there could only encourage Lance to remain asleep.”

 “So we only have a little chance with Shiro so then who else should go instead?” Pidge asked.

 “Maybe Keith?” Shiro suggested making said person and Pidge stare at him.

 “What?!” the two said.

 “What about Pidge you knew Lance more in the Garrison then me.” Keith said wonder what Shiro was thinking.

 “Only professionally. We didn't really speak much.”

 “So how does that make me any better?!”

 “You might not realize it Keith but Lance responds to you better than anyone else,” pointed out Shiro. “I’m positive if there is anyone who can convince him out of his dream, it's you.”

 Hunk and Pidge blinked. “That sounded way more dejecting and malicious than you intended…..” Hunk pointed out.

 Shiro deadpanned in his direction making Hunk lift his hands up in defense.

 Keith exhaled slowly. “Ok…let's do this…. For the team….”

 Shiro nodded in agreement as they both turned to Gumi and sat down in front of us. “Do your thing Gumi,” commanded Shiro.

 Gumi bowed her head and placed two of her tails on the two Paladins and one on Lance’s. The fox tails began to glow with quintessence as Gumi opened her Third Eye to Shiro and Keith who stared back into its mesmerizing glow.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*FLASH!*_ **

**_\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

Keith and Shiro blinked when they looked around and all they saw was darkness and a lot of little tiny pools. Keith saw one right next to his foot and glanced over recognizing what they actually were.

“Where are we?” Keith said frowning as the waters just rippled but there wasn’t any movement and it wasn’t clear to see the bottom. “What are these? Weren’t we supposed to be in Lance’s dream?”

“We can’t go into the Blue one’s dream, we have to work from here,” a little girl said that Shiro recognized. “These pools represent all of the Blue one’s memories.”

“Gumi? so we have to find the right pool where Lance is?” Shiro asked gently as he and Keith moved closer. “And what happens once we find it?”

 “You and the Red one must not touch any of the pools or you’ll experience what the Blue One feels in that memory,” Gumi said as she took Shiro’s hand and held onto Keith’s jacket so they wouldn’t stray. “The Blue One has a lot of memories but I can sense where he could be more likely. The Yellow one mentioned family right?”

 “Yeah, some reference to a book...but Lance is always talking about his large family when we visit other planets…” Keith said quietly. “Guess it would make sense that he’d be dreaming about them.”

 “Do you not dream about yours?” asked Gumi.

 Keith kept silent for a bit. “It’s...complicated…”

 Gumi spoke no further as she continued leading the two a little further before coming to a stop.

 “We’re here…” she said as the other two knelt by the pool with her.

 “So what now Gumi?” asked Shiro.

 “As mentioned, Sleep-Stories are linked directly to one’s memories….”Gumi began to explain before her shoulders sagged and a look of regret flashed on her face. “Blue One was feeling sad….he missed home so much...I felt sad too….I only wanted to let him feel better….I didn’t mean to cause friends trouble….”

 Shiro placed a hand on Gumi’s head. “Your heart was in the right place, Gumi…”

 Gumi gave a small smile before sniffing and wiping her face with her sleeve. “You would have to go in-”

 “Hold up didn’t you just said we **shouldn’t** touch the pools?!” exclaimed  Keith.

 “I did. If you had gone in on your own, you would risk being overwhelmed by the emotions felt in that memory,” explained Gumi solemnly. “However…”

 Suddenly Gumi used her claws to cut off two long locks of her hair and tied them around each of the wrists. “My hair would cloak you with my quintessence. It would allow you to keep your consciousness whilst engaging the memory.”

Shiro and Keith exchanged looks. “Thanks, Gumi.”

 “One more thing, Leader. Please be careful. Whatever physical damage you receive in there, your live bodies would be affected just as well.”

 “Duly noted. Let’s go Keith!” commanded Shiro jumping into the pool with Keith following suit.

 The feeling of water flowed around them and they unconsciously held their breath before they were practically tossed out and took a few seconds to settle where they were. Looking around they stared when they were at a large beach with endless blue ocean and white sand.

 “Whoa…” Keith said as he could practically feel the spray of fun ocean and the heat from the sun. “So this….is where Lance grew up?”

 “Gumi said he was dreaming about his family, so it would make sense this would be he would be dreaming about it, come on we have to find Lance,” Shiro said as they started walking with Keith keeping up his pace but keeping to their surrounding.

 “So will Lance be able to see us or will we be like ghosts until we make like physical contact with him?” Keith asked concerned. “Because it may be a bit strange if we just suddenly appear,”

 “Well we don't see Lance right now so we’ll figure that out when we see him,” Shiro replied and Keith sighed and followed the Black Paladin down the beach in Lance’s dream. As they walked they could hear faint cheers and yelling, once they got a clearer look they could see a family staring out into the ocean yelling loudly.

 The paladins followed their gaze to see a large wave with two figures surfing expertly on top of it.

 Keith squinted as he shaded his eyes. “Is… Is that **_Lance?!”_**

 Sure enough, there he was. Riding the waves expertly on a blue lion surfboard, hanging ten and catching major air along with another woman.

  _“Whoohoooo!!!!"_ they heard him whoop from where they stood.

 “Eeyup, that’s him alright…..” confirmed Shiro bluntly.

* * *

Shiro and Keith kept their distance as they watched Lance head back to shore with the other lady.

 “I wish Gumi could've given us an idea on how to handle this…” Keith said feeling a bit guilty at having to wake Lance up from this dream. “I know she said we have to make him realize this is a dream but is talking really all it takes?”

 He looked so happy being with his family surrounded by them, being praised by them, laughing and enjoying their company. Keith has never seen Lance smiling so honestly since they've been on the castle…

 “Just one step at a time Keith, maybe it would be best if we wait for Lance to be by himself,” Shiro said folding his arms. “We don't really know if we’ll affect his family, so best bet is to wait.”

 Keith sighed knowing Shiro was right, it wouldn't be right to just burst in the middle of the scene in front of him and probably appearing out of nowhere.

* * *

It didn't take very long before they saw Lance laughing and chase after what Shiro and Keith are safely assuming are his younger siblings. Also they are running towards them.

 “Quick, hide!” hissed Shiro pulling Keith behind a bush much to his confusion.

 “Was this bush always here?”

 “We’re in a dream, don't question it! Now shush!” Shiro whispered pushing Keith's head down the same time he ducked, just as the three children ran past their hiding spot.

 Lance was having so much fun chasing his younger siblings down the beach when suddenly he felt two pairs of hands grab his arms and yanked him behind a bush which he didn't realize was there.

 “Shiro? **_Keith?!”_** exclaimed Lance in surprise before he got confused. “Wait, why do I know you guys?”

 “Lance it's us..."Shiro said, furrowing his brow.

 “We’re part of Team Voltron remember?” added in Keith.

 Lance just stared at them blankly. “Huh?”

 "Don't you even know us?!”

Lance closed his eyes trying to recall. “Well.. You guys do seem familiaaaaaa….. Nnnnnope, nope. Nothing,” he said with shrug before eyeballing them suspiciously." Did Daniela put you up to this?!”

“Wh-what?! No!” protested Shiro."Lance, this is a dream! You have to wake up!”

 Lance shook his head and stood up. “Ok stranger, now you're just being weird.”

 “Lance it's true!” confirmed Keith. “Gumi put you under some weird spell and only you can break it!”

 Lance blinked a bit before bursting out laughing."Ha! That's a good one! Oh I am so gonna get Daniela for this~” he said to himself before turning around.

 “Lance!” called Keith grabbing Lance’s wrist.

 “Back off man!” growled Lance as the surroundings started growing dark as if a storm is approaching. “I don't know who you think you are! But leave me… ALONE!!!”

 Lance suddenly snapped as lightning flashed followed by a clap of thunder as water rose out of sea in a tidal wave.

 “Run! Run!” yelled Shiro as he and Keith tried to run for cover but were unable to escape the wave as they were swept up in the current.

_\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_Meanwhile…._ **

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

 

Pidge, Hunk, Allura and Coran watched in concern as Shiro and Keith's bodies appeared to be holding their breaths and moving uncomfortably on the floor.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*SPLASH!!*_ **

 

Keith and Shiro took in simultaneous gasps of air as Gumi pulled them out of the memory pool.

“I take it he wasn't happy?” she asked.

Keith coughed a few times before regaining his bearings.

 “WHAT THE ACTUAL **_HELL?!_** Why didn't he know who we are?!” demanded Keith angrily."And why didn't he get a clue?!”

 Shiro placed a hand on Keith's shoulder and shook his head at him.

 Gumi closed her eyes and thought about it. “It's possible Blue One’s Inner Mind does not want to as you say ‘ _get a clue’._ ”

 “You mean he subconsciously doesn't want to wake up?!” exclaimed Keith in horror.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*FLASH!*_ **

**_\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

Suddenly, Shiro and Keith got woken abruptly while Gumi slumped over exhausted.

 “Guys?! What happened?!” exclaimed Hunk as everyone ran to their side to help them.

“Oh Gumi…..” said Pidge sorrowfully as the fox whined weakly.

 “Lance’s subconscious basically kicked us out,” Shiro sighed. “He didn’t believe us when we said we knew him or how he knew our names, it’s like he’s suppressing actually believing it’s all a dream.”

 “Let’s get Lance hooked up down in the medical bay so we can monitor his brainwaves and make sure he stays healthy,” Coran said as Hunk nodded as he grabbed Lance by the arms and Shiro grasped his legs carrying the sleeping Blue Paladin as the others trailed after worried.

They made it to the medical bay where Lance was carefully laid on one of the tables there and Coran with Allura and Shiro got to work hooking him up while Pidge and Hunk demanded answers from the Red Paladin.

“So, his whole family was there?” Hunk asked.

“From what me and Shiro could see, there were three younger ones, and three older ones I guess Lance is a middle child?” Keith asked. “We landed on a long white sandy beach with large waves the older girl and Lance were surfing while the others were cheering.”

“That would be Daniella, she’s the one who taught Lance how to surf when he was younger, he has an older brother Alberto who works for the Police force.” Hunk said.

“But who’s the third older one?” Keith asked knowing how many people he saw there.

“Probably Nicolas or Nico, he’s Daniella’s fiance or boyfriend last time I remember Lance telling me about the two of them. He has a younger brother Hugo and then twin sisters Ana Maria and Lucia.” Hunk sighed. “It’s no wonder he doesn’t want to wake up with all of them around it’s literally a dream come true for him.”

“He has...a lot of family…” Keith said quietly.

“Yeah and that’s only his main family he has a lot of cousins, aunts and well you get the point,” Hunk said. “I don’t know how we’re going to get him out of it.”

“Can’t we just like...talk to him like some people do to coma patients?” Pidge frowned as she tried to come up with something.“I mean I know it’s a bit of a long shot but it might help?”

“Shouldn’t Gumi know how to bring him out though?” Keith asked getting a bit frustrated as he looked over at the fox that was curled up around Shiro. “I know she managed to keep me and Shiro from being overwhelmed by the dream.”

“I know but she’s still a kid,” Hunk sighed. “She can’t keep going constantly in and out of Lance’s dream, we’ll try again when she’s better.”

Keith let out a frustrated growl as he clenched his fist while Hunk walked off to help Coran.

Gumi slowly crept up to Keith and nudged his hand, whining remorsefully.

Keith glared daggers at the fox. _“If Lance doesn't wake up and we can never form Voltron again, I will_ ** _never_** _forgive you,”_ he growled softly knowing Gumi could hear him.

Gumi looked up at Keith shocked at his words as her heart sank. Keith turned away and marched off angrily.

Gumi sank to the floor whining as she covered her eyes with her paws and sniffed heavily.

What had she done?.... **_What had she done?....._ **

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Once everyone had left to discuss the next course of action, Gumi walked up to Lance’s bedside, pushing her head under his limp hand.

All she wanted was to make Blue One happy but now she has made a mess of things….

Gumi looked at Blue One. She made this mess.

Now Gumi will fix this.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Keith was making his way back to the medical wing to check on Lance when he saw a familiar blue glow coming from the room.

He let out a small gasp as he dashed towards the room.

Keith slid to a stop just outside the entrance in time to see Gumi floating above Lance as a wisp, reaching down to his forehead.

“Stop right there!” yelled Keith dashing forward, reaching a hand out. “Get away from him!!!”

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**_*FLASH!*_ **

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Keith felt a sudden tug and found himself back at the memory pools.

 “Gumi! Gumi! I know you're here!” called Keith angrily.

He made sure to avoid the pools less he falls into them again only without Gumi’s hair to keep him out of Lance’s memory, he moved as fast as he could as he tried to find the one pool that Gumi had lead him and Shiro to the last time there were here.

“Gumi! Where are you! I'm not letting you mess Lance up more than you already done!” Keith shouted and tripped when he missed a smaller pool that was between two larger ones. Luckily he didn't fall in but his hand slipped  a bit into the water causing him to be hit with Lance’s emotions.

**_::Do you understand that the only reason you're here in this class is that best pilot of the school was kicked out!?::_ **

Keith flinched as he felt a stabbing pain in his heart. That was Iverson’s voice…. Did he actually say that to Lance?

Suddenly he saw a vision of Lance pulling an all nighter, rubbing his eyes, fighting away his fatigue while studying.

  ** _::I’ll show them… they're gonna practically beg me to join the fighter pilot class!::_**

 Keith more excruciating pain in his chest.

Suddenly he saw a vision of Lance staring despairingly at the Fighter Pilot results posted on the board. Hunk was there putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Lance was so close, he was only one point short of becoming a fighter pilot… and right there, on the top of the list, was Keith's name.

Keith felt huge waves of frustration, anger, depression and most prominently, self-loathing.

  ** _:Why?! Why?! It's not fair! It's not fair!!! I studied for weeks! I spent so many late nights!!! It's not fair! No matter what I do it's always going to be Keith! Oh so naturally talented Keith! I’m never going to be up to his level……::_**

_::_ **_Why do I even bother? I’m always gonna be a joke….::_ **

**_::Everyone is so great in their own way… I can't let them be dragged down by me…::_ **

  ** _::Screw this… screw Voltron… screw the Galra… screw the Universe…. I just wanna go home…… ::_**

 Suddenly, a hand gripped Keith's collar and yanked him back.

 “I warned you to be careful…”muttered Gumi, releasing her grip. “Blue One's emotions are very strong...you were almost overwhelmed…”

It was at that moment, Keith became aware of the tears flooding down his face.

Poor Lance….. He had no idea Lance felt like this…

Keith stood up as he looked at the small pool that was wedged between two other larger pools.  

Gumi sighed almost sadly when she saw the tiny pool as she pulled Keith away from the pools to a more open area but Keith could tell she was sad for Lance as well.

 “Sometimes the smaller pools are the ones the hold the more painful memories, because the person could push the feelings and emotions to the back of their mind and try to find something to cover it up or hide it,” Gumi said quietly. “The bigger pools act like a barrier hiding it from sight so they don't really think back on it.”

 “Gumi what are we going to do, you saw what happened last time when Shiro and I tried talking to Lance he didn't believe us and kicked us out,” Keith said. “Do you have any idea?”

 “My only guess would be because the Blue One is homesick he wishes to remain in the dream, we have to try and remind him he has a family out here too that's worried about him…” Gumi replied but even then she was unsure. “If you can at least make him be aware that he is in a dream… “

 “I told you! I tried and it didn't work!”

“Perhaps…..” Gumi muttered to herself as she unsheathed her claws and cut out two more locks of her hair before handing them to Keith. “I don't know if it will work on him in his own Sleep Story, but my hair might make possibly…”

“I got it,” noted Keith fastening the hair bracelet around his wrist again. “So I just gotta get this on him right?”

Gumi nodded."But be warned, this is his mind, anything he wishes to happen will happen.”

“Just tell me where he is now.”

Gumi scowled a little before quietly leading him to a particular pool.

“He has moved this memory. Be safe.”

“Hnn.” grunted Keith before jumping in.

The familiar sensations from before flooded Keith. There was another flash Keith found himself in a familiar place.

The Garrison.

Keith looked down at his clothes. He was wearing the uniform. The people around him wore similar uniforms, but were faceless.

Keith looked at his wrist, Gumi’s hair was still tied around his wrist and he could see he had the second one in his hand. He sighed and looked around, trying to think where Lance would be at the Garrison.

“Not like I know where he particularly hung out but this is his dream so he can make whatever wants happen…” Keith muttered as he weaved through the literal faceless crowd. He recalled the memory he fell into regarding Lance and the Garrison, how he studied so hard in the library and in his dorm only to see the results that he was a point behind him to become a fighter pilot how Iverson yelled at him for not being as good as Keith. That particular thought made the dark haired teen grimace.

“Being compared to someone really isn’t a good motivation,” He muttered remember how some teachers would go on about Shiro and his accomplishments as he was trying to study and follow in his footsteps by becoming a fighter pilot too. “So best guess would be the result boards, his dorm or the simulator.”

Keith didn't have to walk too far before he felt a body weight being thrown against him.

“Keeeeeiiith!!!!!! Hey Buddy! I’ve been looking all over for you~!” exclaimed Lance cheerfully.

“Lance?” answered Keith a little thrown off by Lance’s over familiarity with him.

“That’s my name, don't wear it out~!”

 “Uh-huh…..” Keith said when Lance suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“Dude come on! You said you’d show me how to navigate the meteor field for the fighter pilot test!”

“Wait, WHAAAA?!" Keith exclaimed suddenly being yanked and being pulled down the hallway with Lance running and laughing at top speed.

“Come on! Everyone is busy with their own thing and I know Iverson isn’t around cuz he’s stuck in some teacher meeting,” Lance laughed as they passed through familiar hallways that Keith recognized. “We got some spare time so come on! You’re not going to break a promise are ya?”

“N-no of course not!” Keith managed out still a bit taken aback by how friendly Lance was here compared back to in the castle, then it suddenly hit Keith as the blue eyed tanned Cuban boy turned his head and smiled brilliant at him that he understood. This was Lance’s dream, if he was thinking about the Garrison and being friendly with him then the time back then he wanted to be friends with him. “Lance…”

“Yeah buddy?” Lance asked still smiling and Keith couldn’t help but let a smile slowly make his way on his face.

“We better hurry up because you’re going to need all the practice you can get from the last time.” Keith teased, suddenly slapping Lance on the back and running past him. “Try to catch up!”

“You forget who has the longer legs Keithy-Boy!!!” laughed Lance chasing after him.

Keith had to admit, being this close with Lance was… kinda fun. A little weird, granted, but fun.

 He thought back to that day he had that conversation with Hunk.

* * *

**_-“Lance was just trying to make friends in his own….’Lancey’ way.”-_ **

**_\- "Despite what he says...he doesn’t really hate you,” admitted Hunk leaning on the counter. “Maybe you could...just humor Lance a little. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”-_**

* * *

 

Keith smiled a little seeing Lance look so happy navigating the simulator.

At that moment, his eyes traveled down to his wrist and saw the hair bracelet.

That’s right, he can't afford to let himself get swept away in the dream, even if it is his friend’s.

Keith reached into his pocket and pulled out the other bracelet.

 “Hey Lance?”

 “Hmm?”

 “I…. got something for you.." Keith squeezed out holding out the bracelet. Boy he hopes Lance does not remember this bit.

“Is that a friendship bracelet? Keith ya shouldn't have~”

Keith forced a grin on his face. “Yeah, it's a set with mine..” he said through gritted teeth.

_‘Please._ ** _PLEASE_** _don't remember this…’_

 “Hah, you’re funny Keith~” chuckled Lance. “But no thanks~”

_‘Crap now what, you’d think Lance wouldn’t mind something like this,’_ Keith inwardly groaned as Lance started walking ahead of him as Keith was trying to dredge of something he could use to convince Lance to wear the damn bracelet.

As pleasant as this was being friends with Lance neither of them could stay in their state for too long and he didn’t know how much longer Gumi could keep them connected.

‘ _What to do...come on think!’_

 As he desperately tried to think of something he could use to convince Lance when a brief memory of when he was younger floated its way to Keith’s head. It was something he had given Shiro as his own good luck charm for both of them and Shiro had promised to never take it off which was true at least he had come back with a replacement arm…

 “Keith? Hey you okay you went quiet,” Lance said snapping Keith out of his thoughts as he stared back into concerned eyes. “You just kinda spaced out there ya know, heh _**spaced out**_ , get it.”

 “I...get it, uhm...look Lance,” Keith said hoping to above all that this worked. “There’s another reason I want you to have the bracelet...and it’s not just because we’re friends and don’t you dare get on my case of this being sappy but, Shiro...gave me this…”

Lance didn’t say anything but he could tell from the look on Keith’s face that this really was important that he let the shorter Asian continue.

“I...had made these a long time ago for me and Shiro, as a friendship and promise thing...before he went on the Kerberos mission he gave this back to me,” Keith said quietly. “He said he kept his promise and now he wanted me to find someone outside of ‘family’ for me to trust enough to give the other one to.”

Lance’s eyes grew dramatically big and watery.

“Aww…. _Buddyyyyy~~~~”_ he whined with a loud sniff. “I didn't know you felt that way~”

 ' _Oh thank god he’s a sap!’_

 Lance held out his hand for the bracelet. “In that case, I’d be honored to accept that bracelet!”

Keith did a mental fist pump of victory but just as he was about to place the bracelet on, there was a violent rumble causing the two to stumble.

* * *

“They found us again!!!!” alerted Coran hanging on to his dashboard.

 “PALADINS! To your stations!!!” commanded Allura.

 “Anybody seen Keith?!” asked Pidge worriedly.

 “Shoot now, Ask Later!!” ordered Shiro activating the battle drones from his seat as he grabbed the holographic controls and started firing.

 “This really isn't the time to be two Paladin's short!” Hunk grimaced as he was following Pidge’s instructions on where to shoot. “Also isn't this just getting a tiny bit annoying how all of a sudden they're finding us!?”

 “We have a celestial on board, said being that can manipulate minds, fire blasts of pure quintessence, put us in dreams, and change her size, is a gladiator champion and a puppy at that, “ Pidge snarked back. “No I really don't see how they could keep finding us.”

 “Pidge reel back the attitude we all are frustrated here,” Shiro grimaces as he covered for Keith and Lance.”Coran can you see where Keith can possibly be!?”

 “Right so Black Paladin!” Coran saluted while Allura was trying to maneuver the castleship away from the droids of Zarkon’s forces.

 “I found Keith and oh dear...it seems he and Gumi gave trying to get Lance out another go…” Coran said looking into the medbay and seeing an unconscious Gumi along with an unconscious Keith by Lance’s prone body.

 “Urgh of all times for them to have a bonding moment,” Pidge groaned.

 “Pidge!” Shiro, Hunk and Allura said exasperated.

 “Alright alright! Focusing! Hunk 3 o'Clock below you! Shiro 9 o’clock high!”

* * *

“Whoa!” Keith exclaimed losing his footing as he had been leaning more forward and toppled over crashing into Lance sending the two sprawling on the floor with Lance’s back against the wall and Keith sprawled against him in his lap. “What was that?”

 “Um….” Lance sounded at a loss for words while blushing a little.

 Keith blushed upon realizing and quickly got up.

 “Something must be happening outside…” Lance heard Keith mutter.

 “Outside?”

 “No time, we gotta get out of here now!” warned Keith, grabbing Lance’s hand and slipping on the bracelet.

 Gumi’s quintessence emanated from the bracelet, creating a warm pulse that blasted through Lance’s body, making the Blue Paladin shudder and buckle down a bit.

 Keith quickly caught Lance and slung his arm over his shoulders. “Lance?” he called unsurely.

 “Ugh…. Keith? Wait… what are you doing here?”

 “Long story… but now there's trouble. We **need** you Lance!”

 “Wha-?”

 “GUMI!!!! I know you can hear me!! Get us out now!!!” yelled Keith to the air.

  _::Get to the nearest exit! I can get you out of this if you’re leaving the area! Hurry the others can only hold them off for so long::_ Gumi’s voice echoed.

 “Keith! What’s going on what are you doing here? Last thing I remembered was being with Gumi and then falling asleep?” Lance said as he let himself get pulled along until they were near the exit where Lance wanted some answers and dug his boots in the ground stopping Keith from going through the doors. “Keith answer me dammit!”

 Keith let out a frustrated groan wanting to get out of the dream and take care of the real battle outside, but then again Lance had been unconscious for a good amount of time, he deserved to know what happened.

 “When Gumi put you asleep, she put you in what she called a ‘Sleep Story’. It’s where you’re put in the place you want to be the most...your family back on the beach...being friends with me at the Garrison… “ Keith said adding the last part quietly. “You were so happy in these dreams Lance that you...you refused to come back. Right now you’re like in a coma…”

 Lance stared at him in disbelief but then a bitter smile appeared on his face surprising Keith as he pulled his hand away from the Red Paladin’s.

 “Heh, I should’ve figured this was a dream being back home was one thing I could see but us being friends especially back then at the Garrison, that really should’ve been the clue it couldn’t happen…” Lance said making an expression that made Keith want to do something for Lance. “Bet you even made up the story about the bracelet thing too just to get me to wear it.”

 “Lance I...maybe we could’ve been friends I don’t know...there were probably circumstances at the time and honestly I’m not really someone that is good with faces...too many to remember sometimes,” Keith replied as he gripped Lance’s hand, his thumb brushing against the bracelet he slipped on Lance. “And I wasn’t exactly lying about the bracelet.”

 “Oh yeah?” Lance asked having a hard time believing Keith.

 “I did make something like this for Shiro, and he did wear it up until the Kerobos mission giving it back to me. I’m glad he didn’t take it with him,” Keith replied looking down at his own wrist. “The hand that Shiro usually wore it was the one that was replaced…”

Lance fell silent, unsure how to respond when Keith shook his head and pulled on Lance’s arm, continuing their run.

There was another violent shake, slamming the two against the wall.

Keith flinched a little as he broke Lance’s fall.

 “Let's Go!!!!” cried Keith as he and Lance wasted no more time rushing towards the nearest exit which glowed brightly.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_  

**_*Flash! *_ **

  _\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

The two Paladins awoke with a start, breathing hard.

 Lance felt himself all over. “Holy Crap we’re alive!”

 Another explosion was heard hitting the castle barrier.

 “We’ll celebrate later...Let's get to the others!” groaned Keith getting back up on his feet as Lance did likewise, stumbling a bit before running after him.

 Unknown to the boys, Gumi was standing shakily and panting hard. The fox took a couple of steps in an attempt to follow. Suddenly, Gumi teetered and fell over, collapsing to the ground with dull thud.

  _\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

 “Princess, We need more power to the teleduv!” alerted Coran worriedly.

 “I'm trying but it is very difficult to do so when you’re trying not to get overwhelmed Coran!  We can’t divert any more power! We need keep the shields up from the power since we cannot avoid all the droids to make an escape!” Allura growled as she maneuvered the castle ship to avoid some of the more damaging shots.

 “I got Lance back!” Keith exclaimed running into the command center with Lance in tow, the two of them getting to their seats quickly grabbing their controls to help take care of the droids.

 “Glad you two could join us,” Pidge said smirking looking at the two. “Did you two have-”

 Before Pidge could continue there was splot of food goop that landed on her head, making her turn and stare at Hunk who was waving his spoon threateningly.

 “I still have more and I’m not afraid to use it Pidge!” Hunk threatened.

 “Guys, please!” Shiro said looking at the two, expecting this more from Keith and Lance who were strangely focused on taking out the droids then talking about what had happened, “Glad to have you back Lance, think you and Keith can help give Allura an opening while we revert power to the teleduv?”

 “On it Shiro!” Lance said grinning as he took out several droids alongside Keith, for once the two not having any arguments or bringing up the rivalry.

 “Something happened,” Pidge said suspiciously before she felt another spoonful of goop hit her “I wasn’t even going to SAY anything Hunk!!!”.

 “You were plotting!”

 “ ** _FOCUS?!”_**

Finally getting Lance and Keith back made things much easier for them to concentrate more on getting more power to the teleduv even if they had to divert some power from some of the unused facilities. Allura managed to get enough space between them and the fighter piloted droids to create a wormhole escaping the Galra again.

 Once they reappeared on the other side of the wormhole turning the castle to hide inside one of the several moons that was surrounded the large tri-ringed planet they had ended up near by.

 “We should be safe for a while,” Allura sighed leaning against the command deck panel and looking at the others, “Lance are you sure you’re alright? You were out of it for a while.”

 “I’m fine Princess! Just uh...have to get use to moving around a bit I guess,” Lance shrugged as the others left their panels to make sure Lance was okay. Hunk and Pidge hugged the Blue Paladin while Shiro smiled at Keith messing up his hair before squeezing Lance’s shoulder.

Seeing that everyone was busy making sure Lance was alright. Keith had recalled briefly seeing Gumi collapse before the doors shut behind him.

“Shiro I’m going to go put Gumi in your room, she’s probably exhausted herself going into Lance’s dream again.” Keith said quietly.

“Alright let me know if you need help.” Shiro said but Keith shook his own head quickly making his way out of the center.

“You’re probably starving Lance, come on I’ll see if I can whip you up something decent in the kitchen!” Hunk grinned happy to have his friend back, “we were worried about you buddy.”

“Sorry I just got some things Gumi helped me with that’s all,” Lance replied as he glanced over at Shiro talking to Allura, “hey I’ll meet you in the kitchen okay there’s something I want to ask Shiro.”

“Alright that’ll give me time to give you a nice surprise, come on Pidge I’m sure you’re still hungry for your food,” Hunk said as Pidge followed after Hunk.

“Only if you promise not to THROW it at me,” Pidge retorted as she left Hunk.

“Hey Shiro?” Lance asked approaching his leader and the princess. “Can I talk to you for a bit?”

“Oh sure Lance I’ll talk to you in a bit, Princess,” Shiro said as Allura nodded.

As she passed Lance she gave him a quick hug, looking at him fondly before she and Coran left, the other man wanting to check the teleduv.

“Hey sooooo I kinda wanna ask you something about Keith,” Lance said.

 “Alright, what is it?” Shiro asked honestly curious.

 “Did...did Keith ever give you something like a good luck charm and then you gave it back to him before the whole Kerberos Mission?” Lance asked making Shiro’s eyes widen surprised that was what Lance was asking him.

 “Actually… he did yeah… but it was a long time ago... Why?”

 Lance averted his eyes. “Uh… no reason! See ya later!” he said hurriedly before running off.

 What Shiro didn't see was a small smile of reassurance on Lance’s face as the doors closed.

_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Keith got to Shiro’s room with an exhausted Gumi hoisted around his shoulders.

He slowly laid the fox down on the bed.

Gumi made a soft whine, lifting her head at Keith.

“You helped one of our own, so… thanks..” said Keith softly, turning away.

 Just before he left the room, Keith paused at the doorway. “But don't think I’ll ever forgive you for putting this team in jeopardy…” he said coldly, stepping out and closing the door behind him.

 Gumi’s ears drooped as her head fell back on the mattress.Her heart ached in pain as it weighed heavily with guilt.

 She felt sad, she felt sorry and most of all…she felt tired…

_**So very tired….** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> Keith gave a small scoff. “Wait, so what you're saying is that she's sick because she's upset?”
> 
> Lance frowned at Keith disapprovingly. “Hey cool it, animals are super sensitive!”
> 
> Keith just rolled his eyes and gave another scoff before walking out.


	6. Seeing Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red One is Angry. Gumi does not feel very good.

Shiro finally came back to the room after briefing the team on their next move.The moment Shiro walked through the door he was suddenly hit with a strong wave of heavy emotions that practically brought him to his knees.

 A weak whine was heard emanating from the bed.

 “Gumi….” Shiro called softly as he forced his way towards the fox who appeared to twitching uncomfortably.

 “Gumi, Gumi! Wake up!” the man called even louder placing a hand on her head.

 Gumi woke up with a start the moment she felt Shiro’s hand, causing the emotional wave to dissipate.

 Gumi breathed heavily as she whined once more.

 Shiro’s face frowned in concern as he gently stroked the fox’s fur. “What’s wrong girl?... Are you ok?”

 Gumi let out a weak warble as she turned her head to lick his hand weakly making the older man more concerned for the child godlike creature, looking down as his human hand brushed against Gumi’s nose he could feel it was a bit warm and dry.

 “You feel really warm, hahaha I guess even creatures close to being a celestial being can get ill huh,” Shiro said as he sat down on the bed bringing Gumi’s head to rest on his lap. He felt the fox like creature whine as she snuggled against him but Shiro could see that she was still hurting. “Maybe you’re just exhausted from the whole dream thing.”

 Gumi shrugged as much as she could before curling her tails around Shiro trying to get as close as she could to him.

 “Maybe you need some nice rest Gumi, then maybe you’ll feel a little better in the morning.” Shiro said softly kissing her head before snuggling down with her. “Good night, girl~”

 Gumi gave a sniff before settling down with Shiro.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro awoke the next day to find his bedside empty. The Paladin slowly sat up with a yawn and stretch.

“Gumi?” he called, looking around until he spotted a tail sticking of his open closet door.

 Curious, Shiro walked up and slid the door open to find Gumi shallowly breathing.

 "Gumi? Hey girl… it’s me…”Shiro called again softly but didn't even bother to lift her head to look at him. “Did you get smaller?”

 Indeed she was.

The once large dog that rivaled the size of a Great Dane had now shrunk to the size of a Retriever. Gumi just pulled her tails in and curled up, still sniffing.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hunk looked worried as  the bowls containing Gumi’s breakfast lay untouched outside her hiding spot.

“Come on girl…. You gotta eat…” urged Hunk but Gumi just lifted her head slightly to look at him only droop back down again without making a sound.

“She’s been like that the whole morning,” Shiro said worriedly looking at the others. “She was feeling bad when I came back into my room but I didn’t expect her to shrink like that.”

 “Hmm it is quite odd, then again not much is known about the Me-Gumi species so we don’t really have much to go on regarding when they get sick,” Coran said rubbing his chin. “But maybe we can use what we do know about them.”

 “Okay but what do we do until then? We can’t just leave her like this.” Lance said concerned when Gumi just curled up even more until all you saw was a pile of white shaking fluff.”You think maybe it’s because she’s a puppy she used her powers too much?”

 “That is a possibility, most young ones don’t really know how to control their powers or strength. Since Gumi was taken when she was young, it is likely she never had a chance to learn how to properly control herself, ” Allura said.

 “Quite true! I recall Allura having difficulties controlling her strength oh the walls she would punch through like paper and chairs she broke when she put too much power into grabbing them or the incident with her Aunt’s tea set-”

“ANYWAY,” Allura coughed her face going red. “I believe we should bring Gumi to the medbay and see if we can monitor her there.”

Shiro nodded, reaching to scoop Gumi in his arms only to heave under her weight.

“Shiro what's wrong?” asked Hunk as the man released the canine’s body.

 “Her body may have shrunk but it's like her weight shot up tenfold! She’s become ridiculously heavy!”

 “Oh dear…” said Allura worriedly.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a group effort of Shiro, Hunk, Lance and Coran to carry Gumi to the medbay before they managed to lay her down, exhausted.

“Phew! I think she's heavier than me!” exclaimed Hunk, wiping the sweat off his brow.

 Gumi continued to lay on her side unresponsive as Allura stroked Gumi’s head.

 The mice hopped on the table and looked at Gumi, looking at her in pity as Plachu climbed on her snout and patted her between the eyes.

 Gumi just closed her eyes and wrapped herself up in her tail.

 “What's going on?” Pidge asked as she and Keith walked in, they saw the others surrounding Gumi and looked concerned. “Is Gumi sick?”

 “That's what we’re thinking, because she wasn't properly trained with her powers we’re thinking she overused them,” Allura surmised as Coran scanned Gumi and her vitals appeared on screen. “Anything Coran?”

 “A slightly jump in body temperature and she's breathing rather slowly, but I really have nothing to compare it to,” Coran replied.

 “Poor Gumi….” said Pidge stroking the fur ball.

 Chulatt hopped on Allura’s shoulder and said something to Allura.

 “Do you really think so?”

 The pink mouse nodded solemnly.

 “What is it Princess?” asked Coran.

 “The mice believe that there is more to Gumi just being exhausted…” translated Allura. “It's more like she’s….depressed?”

 Keith gave a small scoff. “Wait, so what you're saying is that she's sick because she's **upset?”**

 Lance frowned at Keith disapprovingly. “Hey cool it, animals are super sensitive!”

 Keith just rolled his eyes and gave another scoff before walking out.

 “What's his deal?” asked Pidge looking at Hunk who shrugged cluelessly while Lance followed Keith outside.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Keith! Hey Keith! Wait up man!” called Lance, taking long strides to catch up to the Red Paladin before laying a hand on his shoulder.

 “Dude… what's up? You seem…… grouchier than usual?” Lance asked gently.

Keith looked like he was going to yell at Lance but he quickly bit his tongue to hold what he was going to say, they had just managed to get pass a bit of the rivalry between them and he wasn’t about to ruin that with his suspicions about Gumi, so he decided to do a little omission.

“I’m just...a bit stressed lately you know with all the Galra attacks and then Gumi getting sick out of the blue isn’t helping,” Keith said calming down as Lance nodded, glancing back at the medbay.

 “Yeah no kidding, but we just have to do what we can for her. We’re taking her home so hopefully once she’s with her family she’ll be safe,” Lance sighed. “Though we still haven’t come up with anything to stop the Galra from taking her and her family this time around.”

 “Last thing we want Zarkon to get is a whole family of what Gumi is capable of…” Keith added getting a migraine just thinking about it. Lance patted his shoulder grinning at his fellow Paladin.

 “Then we better find a way to make her feel better then right? Come on Coran showed me where they had a library in the castle ship hopefully we can find something there.” Lance said pulling Keith along.

 “Lance we can barely read altean though!” Keith tired to argue.

 “Barely is better than can't at all!” replied Lance over his shoulder.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance sat down at a table scanning through the library files for anything and everything relating to Gumi while Keith looked through catalogues of  subjects related to healing remedies or similar, albeit slightly unenthusiastically.

 “There's just gotta be something we can do to help,” muttered Lance when Keith let out a frustrated groan.

 “Ugh! I can’t understand a damn thing in these Altean books! How is it every alien we meet knows how to speak English but all their text is practically code!”

 “Coran was saying it was some automatically translation device we have in our helmets and Pidge was mentioning trying to make something so we don’t have to rely on the helmets so much when dealing with alien species,” Lance said flipping through another book. “Nope this one’s a bust too.”

 Keith knocked his head on the table. _“I was being rhetorical…….”_ he growled before sitting up.

 “Maybe instead of herbal remedies we can look for more stories about Gumi?” Keith asked frowning, “I mean there were stories about stuff the gods would eat or consume or use to heal wasn’t there?”

 “Hey you’re right! That has to be something!” Lance said perking right up as he skid the chair across the floor making the scratching noise. “I think something like that is over here!”

 “Lance again how do you even know that?” Keith sighed as he got up at a much slower pace following his fellow paladin. “It’s not like you’re looking at the pictures in front of the books are you.”

 “..................Maybe.”

 “Why am I not surprised.”

 “Hey pictures help too buddy! Now less laggy and more footing it mister!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pidge came back into the room carrying a bundle in her arms in time to Hunk placing a new bowl  of wet food down in front of Gumi and sighed.

“Still not eating?” asked Pidge worriedly earning a shaking head from Hunk in reply.

 “What’s that you got there?” asked Hunk noticing Pidge’s bundle.

 “Just a couple of spare blankets I grabbed from the closet, I figure until we can figure out what’s ailing Gumi, we could just cover the basics,” explained the girl, making a pillow of sorts to slide under the fox’s head while using the other to cover Gumi before stroking her. “What’s up pup?”

 Gumi just gave a small whine but that was it, making Hunk and Pidge sigh.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith sat among columns of books, thinking back.

* * *

 

_-“The mice believe that there is more to Gumi just being exhausted…” translated Allura. “It's more like she’s….depressed?”_

 

_Keith gave a small scoff. “Wait, so what you're saying is that she's sick because she's_ **_upset?”_ **

 

_Lance frowned at Keith disapprovingly. “Hey cool it, animals are super sensitive!”-_

 

_-“Don't think I’ll ever forgive you for putting this team jeopardy…” Keith said coldly.-_

 

* * *

 

Keith clenched his fist. Gumi being sick….couldn’t possibly be his fault….could it?

 “I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING!” exclaimed Lance jumping down from a bookshelf and landing so suddenly next to Keith that the Red Paladin got shocked out of his thoughts.

 “It’s not something about ambrosia like substance again is it? Because I don’t think that one will be useful for Gumi,” Keith said sarcastically as Lance waved a book in his face.

 “Hey technically it could’ve worked since ambrosia is suppose to be like the cure for wounds and stuff for the gods but I found something that’s actually workable for us!” Lance said eagerly as he flipped a few pages and showed Keith a strange looking plant. Keith tilted his head trying to get a better look, he wasn’t familiar with many flowers but the flower that Lance was showing him looked similar to a lily. It was a deep purple with gold veins looking like it formed some sort of design on each petal, a light blue stem was it’s body and in the center were white berries.

“This should help Gumi?” Keith asked taking the book from Lance as he read what he could from the book. From what he could understand it was a rare plant that grew in literally in the middle of a cliff side and were far in between, due to the difficulty of obtaining them and the danger of the cliffs it was near impossible to get them.

“The book says it was a plant that was said to be given life by the Me-Gumi, so if this plant has some energy that’s similar to Gumi then it should help cure whatever is making her sick!” Lance replied excited.

 “IF it exists…” pointed out Keith.

 “It’s something! Now come on, Mr.Grouchy-Pants! Let’s go find the others!” exclaimed Lance running towards the library exit.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coran looked excitedly through the page of the book Lance brought him.

 “Yes..yes… _HAHA!!_ YES! This is it! We can use this!!!” said Coran excitedly. Well done Lance!!”

 “But Coran, this flower is only told off in legends! How do we know it exists?” asked Allura worriedly.

 “Well, not too long ago you didn’t think the Me-Gumi truly existed Princess,” pointed out Shiro making Allura nod her head.

 “That is a fair point. Where do we find it?”

 Coran was flipping through the list of planets as he compared it to the book and blinked. His head rapidly went from the book to the planet he landed on and looked at the others who were waiting for him to reply.

 “Well..good news is I know exactly where it is,” Coran said.

 “And that would be?” Shiro asked raising an eyebrow as Coran coughed and pressed a button on the panel showing the picture of a familiar planet making them all gape. “Coran please tell me you’re kidding.”

 “Brightside is we know the planet that it’s on now!” Coran replied cheerfully.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “I can’t believe of all planets, we come back to the very planet where we picked Gumi up….”said Lance bluntly as the castle-ship made its landing.

 “But it’s a logical place. Paraden is a natural sanctuary for a variety of rare animal species and where there are rare animals, there are rare plants,” pointed out Pidge slipping  on her helmet.

 “Spoken like a true Paladin of the Forest Pidge~!” exclaimed Coran excitedly showing up with a knapsack much to everyone’s incredulous  looks.

 “What is that?”

 “Well someone has to be able to identify the plants on Paraden!”

 “Well we need someone to look after Gumi,” pointed out Allura appearing in her armor.

 “The Princess is right. Pidge, Hunk, you guys keep Gumi stable, the rest of us will go look for that flower!” commanded Shiro adjusting his helmet. “Keep us posted.”

 “Will do!” Hunk said saluting.

 “I'll work on some things to help protect Gumi,” Pidge added. “We’ll let you know if we pick up any Galra on the sensors.”

 “Good,” Shiro said as the two disappeared into the ship leaving the remaining them standing in front of the castle. “Okay Coran you said you can identity the flower right?”

 “Yes indeed! We just have to find the the flower that is in the book that Lance showed us,” Coran said.”Remember we’re looking for them near cliffs but they could also be by rocky formations.”

 “Right then. Keith and Lance will go one way in the Blue Lion and the three of us will go another in the Black Lion, be sure to keep on the updates alright?” Shiro stated.

 “Aye-Aye!” replied Pidge and Hunk.

 “Ok team, let’s move out!”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pair of robot lions sailed over the trees towards the mountain areas causing some birds to scatter in fright.

“There's a valley not too far from here. We can hide the lions there,” pointed out Allura as Shiro nodded and steered the lion in the direction she indicated.

 “Looks like we're gonna to hike the rest of the way to the spot where the flower is,” noted Coran as the Lions pulled in for a landing.

  _::We should be careful, there's a chance there might be Galra scouts coming back to salvage what’s left of their base::_ mentioned Keith.

 The Black and Blue Lion landed as everybody alighted and gathered on the ground.

 “Alright, Coran, the Princess and I will make the hike, you two stay here and guard the Lions,”ordered Shiro.

 “Yaaaaaay…” cheered Lance dryly at being stuck left behind while Keith looked uneasy.

 “Something wrong Keith?” asked Shiro noticing Keith’s expression.

 “Huh? Uh, no.. It's nothing…” the red paladin mumbled, before walking away.

 Lance and Shiro exchanged looks and shrugged.

 Lance watched the trio walk off as he sighed and leaned against Blue looking up at his lion.

 “This sucks, you think it would be faster if we split up, I mean we’ve all seen what the flower looks like,” Lance huffed folding his arms.

 An amused purr echoed throughout his mind as Blue was saying something along the lines of ‘there, there’ to Lance making the Blue Paladin whine even more. Though she did nudge him to check on Keith.

 “Yeah he's been a bit off, well more off than usual since Gumi got sick,” Lance said concerned. ” I mean hasn't the guy ever had a pet before?”

 A low rumble from Blue was all he got for an answer.

 “Alright fine I'll chase after him and it's not because I'm worried about him or anything Blue! You just stay alert!” Lance said as he quicken his steps to catch up with Keith. He could hear Blue almost laugh in his head making him turn and throw a look at the large robotic lion,” I don't Blue!”

Lance mumbled something about Lions having too much time to themselves before he was looking for Keith.

 “I know he had somewhat of a head start on me but I didn't think it would be this much..” Lance mumbled as he looked around for his partner. 

“Keith?! Keith, where you at buddy?!” called Lance circling the area until he found a couple of branches cut, creating an opening into the edge of the jungle.

 “Aw Quiznak…….”

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith carefully sliced his way through the foliage of the jungle keeping his eyes focused on the mountain that Coran had pointed out where the flower might be.

 He had the image of the flower and what he remembered from the book still fresh in his mind. It was not that he didn’t trust the others, but this was something he had to do himself.

 All of a sudden, he felt a hand grab his shoulder, making him reflexively turn and swing his sword.

 “YIPE!” yelped Lance quickly ducking just fast enough to narrowly avoid the blade. The tree behind though? Not so lucky.

 “Holy shit dude you nearly took my pretty head off!” Lance gaped as he looked at Keith holding his hands up to show Keith it was him. He saw Keith visible relax he straightened up looking concerned for him,”and what are you doing out here?”

“Shouldn't you be back at the lions?” Keith replied about to continue but Lance grasped his arm stopping him.

 “Technically it was both of us but I told Blue to get us if they pick up any Galra, now answer my question would ya? You left an obvious trail heading towards the mountain where the others are,” Lance frowned.”Don't you trust Shiro?”

“Of course I do Lance it's just…” Keith said looking at the other paladin but he closed his mouth unable to say more. What could he say? That he felt like it was his fault Gumi was so depressed that she falls sick because he had refused to forgive her?

 “I know that look. That’s your _‘I’m responsible’_ face,” pointed out Lance, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “Keith...do you know what’s going on with Gumi?”

 Keith kept silent for a bit. “I..I think **I’m** the reason Gumi’s sick…”

 Lance started a little. “What?”

 “UGH! Forget it! I’m going to go get that plant!”  growled Keith turning to dash off only to have Lance grab the back of his collar and yank him back.

 “No way! Even if you do feel responsible, we have our orders! You of all people should be able to trust Shiro and the others,” Lance said sternly.

 “I’m going!” snapped Keith swinging out at Lance who dodged and grabbed his wrist, twisting against his back and pinning him to a tree with his other arm pressed up against the back of Keith neck.

 “ **We** are staying back, right where Shiro told us! I want to help Gumi too, but it means nothing if we’re all scattered!”

 Keith was a little taken aback at Lance suddenly pinning him but he knew there was logic to Lance’s words. Defeated, Keith relaxed his body. Once Lance was sure Keith was going to behave, the Blue Paladin released his grip.

 “Come on...you can explain yourself back at the rendezvous point,” said Lance gently, holding onto his partner’s shoulder and guiding him back to the Lions.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro led the group, using his arm to swat away the foliage.

“How much closer, Coran?” he asked.

 “I'd say we have about another two Vargas if we keep this pace up! We still got a bit of a ways to go but we’re making excellent progress!” Coran chirped getting a confused look from Shiro as he turned to the princess for some explanation.

“I believe if I have studied Earth time thanks to Pidge and Hunk that a varga should be relatively close to an hour.” Allura explained making Shiro groan.

“Alright at least we’re on the right track,” Shiro sighed,” Pidge, Hunk how's Gumi? Anything on the radar?”

:: **_Negative for the scanners we got Gumi to nibble on some food it's still not a lot.::_ ** Pidge replied as they could hear Hunk cooing at Gumi behind her. :: **_How goes the search?::_ **

“Another two hours and then we can actually start looking for the plant, alright keep me updated.” Shiro replied as he ended the conversation.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 It took some coaxing… actually some off key singing of _'The Song That Never Ends’,_ until Lance was finally able to coax the truth out of Keith.

 Heh, worked on Daniela, definitely works on Keith.

 Keith sat on Blue’s paw looking guilty while Lance just shook his head disapprovingly.

 “Keeeeiiiith… your element maybe fire but damn, what you said was cold. Real Cold man.”

 “Alright I get it! I was an ass for saying it but she practically put you in a coma **_and_ ** almost got us all killed on numerous occasions!” exclaimed Keith defensively. “And yet you all just love that walking Space Floof as if all she did was track mud on the floor!”

“Heh, Space Floof….” mumbled a slightly amused Lance before shaking his head and got back to the subject. “So what’s your point Keith?”

Keith made some garbled noise as he looked at Lance in disbelief as the blue paladin was waiting for Keith to continue on. “Look I know that Gumi was captured by the Galra and all but how do we know she isn't purposely leading them to us or something!? She's been trouble since she first got here!”

“Look Keith I admit you have some points but you have to remember a few things too. Gumi is literally just a child, Shiro said so herself and you probably saw her form too when you went in my dream with her,” Lance said. “She doesn't know better and the way she was trying to help had no malicious intentions just a kid thinking they were doing something to help.”

 Lance saw that Keith was still frowning and decided to take another approach.

“Do you trust Shiro?” Lance asked.

“Wha-of course I trust Shiro!” Keith replied glaring at Lance.

 “Even when he was captured by the Galra and has their technology on him? Do you think he could have willingly lead the Galra to us?” Lance replied.

 "Wha..no but that's different Lance!” Keith replied.

 Lance frowned and folded his arms. “Is it, Keith?”

 Keith opened his mouth to argue but nothing came out.

 Lance raised his eyebrows. “Look, if you can afford to trust Shiro, then it wouldn't hurt to give Gumi a chance. At least try.”

 Keith gave a defeated sigh and turned away making Lance nod in satisfaction.

  _‘I sure hope Shiro and the others are having luck with finding that flower…... ‘_ thought Keith looking worriedly towards the mountain.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Yes! We found the flower!!!” cheered Coran, his voice echoing about in the cavern they were in.

 “Coran!” Allura and Shiro hissed quietly, they had discovered the site of the flower had of course been moved since it had been ten thousand years since anyone has searched for it.

It was still on the edge of a cliff but in order to get to it they had to tie the rope which they tied to a rock but even then it was too short, so Allura tied the end around Shiro’s waist and had him carry Coran down before holding him by his ankles so he could get the flower.

 “Let's just get the flower and go,” Shiro sighed hanging upside down, as Coran was going on at how pretty the flower was still intact.

“Allura pull us up!” 

“Alright!” Allura called as she started to pull the rope. ”Coran we don't know what creatures are in here so try to keep your enthusiasm down.”

“Right, Princess!” Coran yelled back enthusiastically, his echoes bouncing everywhere.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble as the group could feel the cavern shaking. 

“Allura!!!” cried Shiro urgently as the Princess quickly hoisted them back up while Coran placed the flower in a containment unit just as parts of the cavern began to crumble.

Allura quickly yanked Coran out of the way of a falling stalactite.

 “Let's go!” yelled Allura as the group began to hightail it out of there.

The rocks rained over them as they desperately dodged them, Shiro had his shield up knocking away the rocks they couldn’t dodge as Allura had Coran over her shoulder.

They leapt over the rocks and cracks on the ground that appeared as they neared the exit. Allura’s foot got caught in an open crack ,Shiro grabbed her hand and hauled her up and the three leapt forward tumbling out of the mouth of the cave just as it collapsed.

“Why...do I get the feeling that I should expect things like this to become the norm,” Shiro panted out on the ground as Allura was catching her breath as Coran cheered as he held the containment unit over his head.

“It’s still good!” Coran exclaimed.

“I’d make a joke but I neither have the energy nor care…” Shiro groaned out as Allura sighed standing up.

“Well we have what we came for we best head back to the lions to get this cure to Gumi as soon as we can.” Allura said as the other two nodded.

 “What are we supposed to do to the plant to give to Gumi?” Shiro asked as they walked back to the lions. “Make a tea out of it?”

 “Optional, but not necessary!” answered Coran, still cheerful despite their almost near death experience. “All the Me-Gumi has to do is eat this flower and she’ll be shining brighter than before~!”

 “You’ve been hanging around Lance again haven't you?” asked Allura dryly but Coran had already began his walk back.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at base, Hunk sat next to Gumi, trying to cheer her up by scratching her favorite spots but Gumi ignored him and buried further under the blankets.

Hunk and Pidge were able to force feed her a little bit of blended food the former prepared but since then Gumi refused to even acknowledge their presence.

Suddenly, the doors to the medbay opened and in came running the team with the flower.

“We got the plant!” exclaimed Lance excitedly as Coran held up the canister.

“How's Gumi?” asked Keith softly, walking up to Pidge.

Pidge heaved a sigh and gestured to the lump on the table. “See for yourself….”

 Keith and the others made their way towards the table. The Red Paladin gingerly grabbed the edge of the blanket and slowly lifted it.

 Allura made a small gasp while Lance and Shiro looked shocked.

 “Oh my…" mumbled Coran.

 In the duration of their absence, Gumi’s condition had worsened and made the fox shrink even more until was no bigger than a Pomeranian now.

 “Oh Gumi…” Keith said his guilt getting worse as he stared at the tiny fox creature.

 “Coran!” Shiro exclaimed frantically as Coran nodded and quickly pulled out the containment unit that held the flower. “Gumi, sweetie you need to eat this so you’ll be better okay? Please?”

Gumi let out a tiny whine as she looked up at Shiro and sniffed the flower. Her nose scrunched up a bit as Shiro reached over and scratched her behind her ears trying to encourage her. Gumi whined as she reached over and nibbled on the petals slowly, the others watching with baited breath waiting as they watched her consume the whole plant.

 “Well...shouldn’t...shouldn’t something be happening?” Hunk asked worriedly as all they saw was Gumi’s ears flatten before she wiggled underneath the blanket again.” Gumi?”

 “Maybe we need to let it take effect. We can’t expect an instantaneous cure.” Coran said as he checked Gumi’s vitals on the screen. “It’s all we can do for right now anyway.”

 “You heard him paladins, let’s retire for the night.” Allura said in a tone of finality, though you could hear the tint of worry in her voice as the others nodded and petted Gumi wishing her to be better in the morning as they left. Keith lingered behind everyone else before he left to his room as well.

Later in the night, Keith groaned as he sat up in bed having tossed and turned for the last couple hours. The guilt of what he had said to Gumi was eating him up as he sighed, swinging his legs to the side of the bed, shivering slightly when his barefeet hit the cold floors. Sighing and knowing what he had to do he got up rubbing his arms slightly as he walked out of his room, the quiet hum of the lights above him as he made his way to the med bay.

The doors quietly slid opened as he walked through and up to the bed where Gumi was, biting his lip he gently grasped the blanket and pulled it off the fox creature. He could see Gumi’s ear lift but made no effort to turn her head. He reached out hesitantly before he rested it on top of Gumi’s head, surprised the fox turned to look at Keith.

“Gumi...I’m...I’m really sorry. I never should’ve said those things to you, you really were trying to help us,” Keith said as he petted the tiny fox. “I was just worried about the team but I..I shouldn’t have blamed you...you had no way of knowing how the Galra were tracking you.”

Keith sat on the table beside Gumi, continuing to stroke her fur keeping his gaze to the floor.

“I’m so sorry Gumi…I’m so, so sorry….” Keith kept mumbling under his breath as he lay on the table beside Gumi, burying his face in her fur.

Gumi could the vibrations of Keith's muttering on her back through the haze of her fever before slowly putting her head down, gradually drifting to sleep.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith realized he must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew, a long warm tongue was lapping at his face, almost like how a mother cat would groom her young.

He felt his head rest on a warm, soft, rumbling body while the rest of him was covered in a blanket of soft fur. 

Keith groaned a little as he slowly opened his eyes. 

Beautiful, shining red orbs gazed back at him as Gumi pressed her nose against Keith's.

“Gumi!” exclaimed Keith sitting up and looking at the fox. A happy smile grew on his face."You're back! And you're ok!!!!”

Gumi’s eyes appeared to be smiling as she pressed her forehead to Keith's. The red paladin did likewise as he looked into her eyes while his own brimmed a little with tears.

_“I’m so sorry Gumi… I really, honestly take back what I said. I forgive you… would you… forgive me?”_ Keith whispered.

Gumi gave her reply in the form of an affectionate lick to Keith's face, wiping away his tears as Keith laughed loudly.

The commotion brought the others to the room hurriedly, only to stop and smile at the scene.

“Awww!” Hunk said happily as he watched Gumi wrap Keith up tighter in her tails as she yipped happily nuzzling and licking Keith’s face.

“Yeah dunno about the sudden turn around but I'm happy too, that and Gumi looks like she's feeling a lot better if she's being that affectionate with Keith,” Pidge snickered as she took out her tablet and started to record Keith and Gumi.

“I'm just glad Keith isn't looking at Gumi like she's about to bite him,” Shiro replied relieved as he covered his mouth when Gumi got a mischievous look in her face and tackled Keith onto his back barking happily as the Red Paladin was surprised but wasn't one not to fight back.

“Why don’t we let them have their fun?” suggested Allura as the others nodded in agreement before turning to leave.

Lance was the last to exit the room as he paused and gave the two one last small smile, closing the door on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> Allura gave a disheartened sigh as well. “No… I suppose not….”
> 
> Shiro looked at the princess curiously."You ok Allura? You seem… down?”
> 
> Allura looked at Shiro surprised."Why would you say that?
> 
> The black paladin scratched his head. “I dunno… you seem to be sighing a lot today.”
> 
> “It's nothing. Really. I’ll be in my room if anyone is looking for me…” said Allura dismissively before heaving another heavy sigh and exiting the bridge.


	7. Shiny, Happy People

“Shiro? Where are the other Paladins?” Allura asked as Shiro walked into the control room of the castle ship.

“Training Gumi, they made a maze with the electric maze and droids,” Shiro replied. “Gumi’s having fun getting to stretch her legs you could say beating the droids to get to Hunk’s food for her at the finish line, they told her not to use her powers and just use her own physical abilities.”

“I’m glad all of them are getting along with Gumi,” Allura chuckled as she turned back to the map and could see Shiro stepping up next to her. “We still have several more vargas before we’re able to get close to Gumi’s home but…”

“But you’re worried on what we’re going to do once we get there. The Galra are still tracking us and are determined to get Gumi back to them,“Shiro sighed. “Not to mention we still haven’t come up with a contingency plan on how to keep Gumi and her family safe. It’s not like we can keep her on the ship it wouldn’t be right.”

Allura gave a disheartened sigh as well. “No… I suppose not….”

Shiro looked at the princess curiously."You ok Allura? You seem… down?”

Allura looked at Shiro surprised."Why would you say that?

The black paladin scratched his head. “I dunno… you seem to be sighing a lot today.”

“It's nothing. Really. I’ll be in my room if anyone is looking for me…” said Allura dismissively before heaving another heavy sigh and exiting the bridge.

Shiro looked concerned until he heard a loud. “Pssst!!!”

Shiro followed the direction of the sound to see Coran peeking from the door entry with a gesturing motion for Shiro to come with him. Coran looked even more excited than usual.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It's Allura’s birthday today?!” exclaimed Lance excitedly while Hunk let out a small squeal.

Keith who was tugging a rope away from Gumi looked up. “And you want to throw her a party?” he asked with a slight grunt as Gumi almost yanked him forward.

Now that Keith had warmed up to Gumi, he was now her go to play person since he was more active than the others he could last a lot longer when she wanted to play, that and he came up with fun games for them to play too! Her tails wagged eagerly behind her as the  Hairy Faced one nodded.

Pidge looked thoughtful.

“So distraction plan until we reach Gumi’s home?” Pidge asked,” well that could give us Ideas on what to do for her or try to get her. Which is gunna be hard...”

“Come in I know the presents are part of the birthday package but it's all about celebrating the person!” Lance said before he caught Keith when Gumi cheated and changed her size giving her an advantage yanking the rope from him sending the red paladin backwards.”Looks like Gumi wins.”

“She cheated,” Keith grumbled but was smiling at the fox who let out a muffled bark almost like a laugh with the rope toy in her mouth. “But seriously what are we going to do for Allura's birthday ? I really have no input here…”

“Just leave the present to me! Your presents could be the surprise party for the Princess! I’m sure she’d be excited to partake in your Earthly traditions!” exclaimed Coran almost giddy with excitement as he jogged on the spot and saluted them.

“Well then! I will leave it up to you then!! Come on Hunk! To the kitchen!!! Good Luck!!!” wished Coran before taking off at top speed.

“Later guys!” called Hunk over his shoulder as he took off after Coran.

“Alright! Pidge you keep a look for Allura! Shiro! You go distract her! Keith and I will go look for stuff we can use for the party!” commanded Lance when Keith quirked an eyebrow while folding his arms.

“Woah there! Who died and made you Royal Party Planner?” demanded Keith.

“When ya got a big family like mine, you're planning parties practically every month!” said Lance proudly.

Pidge shrugged indifferently. “Works for me.”

Shiro nodded in agreement. “Come on, Gumi. Find Allura, girl!” he commanded.

Gumi barked and picked up her rope in her mouth before running out with Shiro waving to the group and following closely behind.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allura sighed as she tapped a few buttons on the screen in front of her making sure there wasn’t any Galra coming near the castleship, they didn’t want to be taken by surprise by the Galra again. She heard the door open and turned around figuring it was Shiro when she suddenly had an eyeful of white fluff that tackled her to the ground.

“Gumi?” Allura blinked looking up at the fox with her rope toy in her mouth, she jumped off the princess as she crouched  with her tails wagging behind her telling her to play. Shiro came in running after Gumi chuckling.

“Sorry about that Princess, but Gumi wanted a new playmate since Keith wanted to go train and well, she suddenly wanted to play with you,” Shiro shrugged as he patted Gumi’s head.

“Kyip!” Gumi barked as she dropped her toy as Allura stood up smiling softly at the young fox kit.

“Well, maybe I can play a little bit,” she said kindly as Gumi’s eyes lit up. “We have been working hard and I increased the scanners range for the Galra so we won’t get surprised by them.”

“Think you can keep up with Gumi Princess? She is a literal ball of fluff and energy,” Shiro teased.

As if to prove Shiro’s point, Gumi excitedly bounded around the princess before sitting up on her haunches to beg with big sparkly eyes.

Allura gave a chuckle before bending over to cup Gumi’s face in her paws.

“How can I say no to this face~”she said endearingly making Gumi wag her tails furiously.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Allura’s mice rode on Gumi’s head as she trotted in front of Princess and Leader.

 Gumi liked seeing Leader and Princess get along together. They have a special Resonance between them.

The mice sensing Gumi’s thoughts squeaked happily as they made gestures between Shiro and the princess. Gumi couldn’t really understand but she did know that the mice were saying that the two needed a push or something.

Yipping in understanding Gumi made a sharp turn, making the mice hold tightly onto her fur as she barreled for the two following her. The two were surprised by the sudden change and Leader skidded to a stop first with Allura bumping into his back. Grinning, Gumi ran around the two pushing the two closer until Leader had his arms wrapped around the Princess so she wouldn’t fall. Once she was satisfied she let out a happy bark before running down the hallway once more, leaving the two stunned in each other's arms.

The two went completely red in the face before separating. Allura nervously tucking her hair behind her ear while Shiro averted his eyes and scratched his cheek.

Gumi peeked around the corner smiling mischievously while the mice all appeared to be giggling and high-pawing each other.

“You cheeky little-!” chided a flustered Allura, chasing after Gumi and the mice who started to take off laughing while Shiro quickly ran after the princess.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Aaaaaaand saved for future ammo~” said Pidge cheerfully, saving the footage she caught of Shiro grabbing Allura on her tablet.

 In the background, Lance and Keith were able to dig out some old Altean celebratory decor from storage that they used back on Arusia and were in the midst putting them up in the lounge.

 Lance was really showing his creative side braiding ribbons together to replace paper  chains since they didn't have any usable paper in the castle.

“You're pretty good at that,” complimented Keith looking over the couch watching Lance at work.

“Having three sisters helps~”

“The one you were surfing with was one of them right?” Keith asked as he recalled Lance being in the water with a female that looked similar to him. Even though he had been paying attention to Lance trying to figure out how to get him out of the dream, he couldn’t help but watch how he interacted with his family.

Pidge handed Keith some homemade fairy lights she had put together from the scrap metal she had found with Gumi once she turned off her tablet. He hung them around the couch area since that was where the party would be while Pidge was having fun making some orbs she found float around in different colors similar to a solar system.

“Yep! That’s my eldest sister Daniela, she taught me how to surf, she’s tough as they come and doesn’t take anyone’s crap, mess with her and you’ll be in a world of hurt” Lance grinned, as he finished off one braid before working on another set of ribbons. “though she’s a marshmallow when it comes to her boyfriend Nicolas or Nico.”

“What’s he like?” Pidge asked as she took the finished chain and wrapping it around the table, they had managed to find a nice light pink cover for the table that matched Allura’s markings on her face and the chains complimented the color so it would be a perfect decoration for the table.

“He’s pretty cool. He’s complete head over heels for my sis though, becomes complete mush in her hands,” chuckled Lance putting up the ribbon braids.

“He sounds like a barrel of monkeys…” commented Keith bluntly, dusting off his hands after finishing putting up his share of the decor. “Well, all that's left is for Hunk and Coran now…”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Coran, I know we have all this space alien food but trust me I know how to bake a cake,” Hunk insisted as he kept the bowl in his arms away from Coran who was insisting on another traditional Altean dish.

“I believe Allura would be more appreciative of a dish from her childhood! I know what she likes so I think the main thing to make would be that!” Coran huffed as he waved the food he was holding while Hunk’s face turned a nice shade of goo green.

“Coran, that’s a squishy worm thingy...you make your dish and I’ll make mine okay? I’m sure Allura would appreciate both of our dishes,” Hunk said edging away from Coran who seemed to think about it. “Plus Allura will get to learn about Earth traditions and still have her own.”

“Alright then Hunk, but I do still believe we don’t need two big dishes.” Coran said as he got to work on his own food.

Hunk let out a relieved sigh but he looked happy, he had managed to make something similar to brownies with the food they had gathered from different planets and a lot of earlier testing previous, he kinda wished he had something resembling candles but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea as it had been a few thousand years since Allura’s last birthday.

Hunk just shrugged to himself. Oh well. He’ll just have to bake the best cake ever.

“So Coran, what is this surprise you have for Allura?”

Coran just bit his lip and looked super excited while laughing maniacally which freaked Hunk out as he just inched away from the Altean who was lost in his own thoughts.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright Me-Gumi! Fetch!!” commanded Allura, flinging the rope down in the training room.

Gumi let out excited barks as she bounded after the rope but Shiro quickly scooped it up, much to her confusion.

“Come and get it Gumi!!!” teased Shiro throwing it back to Allura as the fox skidded across the floor and chased the rope excitedly.

Allura laughed when she caught the rope and threw it back to Shiro.

If Gumi was in her human form her cheeks would be puffed up and pouty as she looked between Leader and the Princess. Both of them were grinning as they looked at the pouting fox as the two of them continued to throw the rope toy over her head.

“Come on Gumi! You can get it girl!” Allura teased waving the toy and just as the fox was about to grab it threw it back to Shiro who chucked it back.

At one point Gumi tried jumping for it but it was too high for her to reach. Her tails twitch behind her as she tried to come up with something.

She's clever! She can think of something to get the toy from Leader and the Princess. She hears some squeaking and gets an idea, using her powers she sends an idea to the mice who blink before they're squeak laughing and run off.

Shiro waves the toy for Gumi as the fox keeps her eye in the toy, crouched like she's approaching prey.

“Come on Gumi I know you want it just have to work hard to get I-I-I-it!?” Shiro yelped a startled noise leaving his lips as two of the mice were running all over him tickling him. He just barely managed to throw the toy as Allura caught it only to find herself subjugated to the same treatment.

 _“Plachu?! Chuchule?!”_ squealed Allura with laughter as she fell to the floor.

Shiro was trying so hard to keep it together with Chulatt and Platt tickling his neck and sides.

Gumi snatched up the rope and barked triumphantly, wagging her tail. The mice ceased their assault and ran back to Gumi, cheering and slapping paws with each other.

“You guys!!!! That was cheating!!!”whined Allura exhausted on the floor.

“That was low Gumi… even for you…” Shiro wheezed also lying on the floor exhausted not to far from Allura. “Feeling better?”

“Yes but now I want pay back Me-Gumi for that bout of unfairness bringing in the mice,” Allura said looking over at Gumi who stopped laughing as her ears perked up as if sensing danger. The mice sensing the same thing ran up to Gumi and clinging to her fur.

“I think that’s a good idea princess,” Shiro said once he caught his breath as the two stood up.

Gumi squeaked as she darted out of the training  room with Allura and Shiro chasing after her and the mice.

“Don’t think you can run Gumi! We’ll get you back for that!” Shiro laughed picking up speed when another white blur passed him and he saw Allura grinning like he hasn’t seen her ever do as she was catching up with Gumi.

With a tackle, Allura grabbed Gumi, sending them both into a tumble.

Shiro quickly caught up, incredibly concerned for the two, only to sigh in relief once he heard Allura just burst out laughing while Gumi panted happily, rolling on her back and pawing the air.

“Oh…. I haven't had this much fun in years!! Granted I was asleep for ten thousand of them but for once in a long time…”

Shiro smiled as he helped Allura get back up.

“You always look more beautiful with a smile Princess~”

Allura flushed and averted her eyes while Gumi and the mice sat by and looked between the two, beaming themselves.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “Gumi~ what are you doing?” asked Allura while chuckling as Gumi kept nudging her or pulling on her skirt, guiding her towards a particular room. “Do you know something Shiro?”

Shiro laughed quietly and shrugged. “Maybe you should follow her and find out Princess~”

Curiosity got the better of the Princess who followed the fox into the lounge that was dark for some reason.

“Shiro? What's going on?” Allura asked concerned when the lights flashed and there were noises and shouting.

“ **HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLURA!”**

Allura had to blink because of the sudden lights but she saw the rest of the Paladins and Coran grinning at her while the lounge was decorated with a variety of things and colors making her gasp happily. The fairy lights twinkled from their place as if there were floating mini planets above them.

“My birthday? I had completely forgotten…” Allura breathed while the others grinned back at her.

“Coran didn't and we wanted to celebrate it!” Lance said grinning.

“Yeah so happy birthday Allura! The others decorated while me and Coran made the food!” Hunk added grinning.

Pidge grinned as she wrote something on her tablet and Allura saw the floating orbs spelling out something.

“Happy Birthday Space Mom?”

Shiro choked. Pidge just grinned.

Gumi just stood up on her hind legs and placed her front paws on Allura’s shoulders as the canine showered her with congratulatory kisses.

Gumi had no idea what was going on but Princess was very happy and that made Gumi super happy too.

The fox waved her tails so vigorously that a small breeze formed, blowing at the amused Paladins.

“What are we standing around here for? Let's paaaarty!!!!” cheered Lance excitedly.

“YEAH!!!” cheered Coran and the Paladins in unison while Gumi barked in agreement. The mice too squeaked their eagerness to partake.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allura was certainly enjoying herself as the paladins introduced to her their Earthly customs of celebrating birthdays. She never knew there were such things as ‘Party Games’.

‘Charades’ was one of the interesting, and amusing ones she especially enjoyed.

“Lance no offense but you suck at this…” Keith said dryly as he was trying to figure out what the noodle armed paladin was trying to imitate.

Since Lance couldn't speak he glared at Keith who shrugged back.

“Sorry I have to agree what does that weird dance thing you're doing have to do with a movie?” Hunk asked scratching his head while Pidge was getting all of this recorded. It was her, Allura and Shiro against Keith, Hunk and Lance while Coran kept score.

Lance was doing something like waddling before suddenly doing a jig of some sort.

“1 minute left!” announced Pidge while Keith and Hunk both squinted while rubbing their chins.

Suddenly, Hunk lit up as an epiphany struck him. “Happy Feet?"

 **_“YES!!! FINALLY!”_ ** cheered Lance triumphantly while Hunk fist pumped. Keith just sat there confused but relished in the victory all the same.

“Aaaaand Time!!!” called Coran marking down the new score.

“Whoo hoo great job Hunk!” Lance cheered as he bounced over to his team and wrapped an arm around the yellow Paladin who grinned right back before he looked over at Keith who looked confused still.“Seriously you don’t know Happy Feet?”

“Not much a movie person I guess?” Keith shrugged to Lance’s horror as he continued. “Didn’t really watch many probably a few here and there but nothing enough for me to remember titles.”

“Urgh we really need to change or at least improve your tastes in entertainment.” Lance huffed.” Alright what’s the final tally?”

“Hmm it seems that the winners of your Earth game is the team of Lance, Hunk and Keith!” Coran cheered as Pidge groaned.

“Dammit I knew I should’ve picked something easier for my turn,” she grumbled sighing. "Sorry guys.”

“Oh don’t worry about it Pidge, it was still really fun trying to figure out what you were trying to say,” Allura laughed smiling, she couldn’t remember the last time they had all just relaxed and just taken an honest break.

“So what’s next on the plans Mister Royal Party Planner? A pinata?” Keith asked sarcastically.

“As a matter of fact!” said Lance smugly, pulling out a pinata made to look like a cartoon effigy of Zarkon."Courtesy of me and Hunk!”

“Lance has told me it is a most anticipated Party custom in his culture! Apparently you hit it until treats explode from it!” exclaimed Coran excitedly.

“That sounds awfully violent….” Allura couldn't help but comment unsurely.

“Trust us Princess, it's a lot more enjoyable than sounds,” reassured Shiro with a smile while Pidge held up a stick and a blindfold.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gumi barked excitedly along with everyone’s cheering as Allura made her way to the pinata that Pidge had rigged a floating orb to hold up.

There were a few close calls with the bat which resulted in the boys standing as far away as possible but gradually Allura got close enough.

Winding herself up, Allura swung as hard as possible, causing the pinata to shatter and letting all the Altean sweets Coran made to scatter to the floor.

“WHOOO!!!!” cheered Lance, Hunk and Pidge as they dove for the candy while Shiro and Coran applauded.

Keith just quirked his eyebrow at the scene as Gumi leaped into the air and dove for the Garrison trio, not wanting to be left out of whatever it was they were doing.

“Aaaaah! Gumi NOOOOOOOO!!!!!” wailed Pidge as she got piled on by a heap of fluff while Lance and Hunk ended up wrestling with Gumi’s tails.

Allura peeked out from under her blindfold and burst out laughing.

Coran looked at his device and smiled. It was almost time…

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Keith! Don't you know the rules of the piñata!? You can't steal my candy if you didn't get any for yourself!” Lance exclaimed as he tried to keep his candy out of reach from the red paladin.

They were taking a break from games, Gumi was laying against the couch with Pidge using her as a pillow while Shiro was scratching her head.

Allura was bombarding Shiro with more questions about Earth birthdays and telling him about birthday traditions on Altea. Hunk was enjoying the candy that Coran had made which wasn't half bad which is why Keith got curious and tried to try one for himself but Lance was being stubborn.

“It's just one piece Lance, and what rules of the piñata? I swear you're just making that up,” Keith retorted as he grabbed Lance’s wrists to stop him from moving back any farther. “And it's just one piece of candy!”

“I am totally not making this u- Gah! Back away mullet!” Lance argued trying to keep his precious candy away from Keith who was eyeing the piece he currently had in his hand.

 “Lance it's just one piece of candy you still got plenty more,” Shiro sighed looking at the two paladins. “Just give him one.”

Lance looked at Shiro slacking in his fight against Keith staring at his leader like he had betrayed him.

“Shiro I trusted you to realize the importance of the rules- **_DID YOU JUST STEAL THE CANDY WITH YOUR MOUTH!?”_ ** Lance started to rant when he froze when he felt the piece of candy he was holding get taken by the Red Paladin’s mouth if him chewing and smirking at Lance had anything to say.

“Keith don't be a brat,” Shiro groaned but he was trying not to laugh and in a show of maturity Keith stuck his tongue out at Shiro ignoring Lance’s red face.

“Paladins! It is time for my surprise!” Coran called as he put away the device grinning widely,”Princess, Paladins if you would come with me to the bridge?”

Everybody exchanged looks and got up to follow Coran with Pidge riding on Gumi’s back.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group arrived at the bridge, still curious as to what Coran was up to until the attendant took Allura’s hands and led her to the front.

“Dear child, it took me a while but I can finally say that I have the honor of fulfilling one of your greatest dreams,” said Coran with a smile as he pointed to something sparkling in the distance.

Allura squinted to get a better look as Coran went to the controls and drove the ship closer.

The shimmering object in the distance got bigger and bigger the closer they got. Slowly, Allura’s jaw began to drop while her eyes grew bigger in awe.

“Oh… My…. Coran... Is that?”

Coran walked back to Allura and beamed brightly. “It is dear. I promised I would show you one when you were a little girl didn't I?”

“ _Ay Dios mios..._ Coran what is that!?”

“Is gigantic and shiny…”

“Holy hell…”

“Is that a planet!?”

“Sort of! Hardly any creatures can sustain life on it but let me introduce to you one of the rarest sights in the galaxy; a **_Crystal Star_ **. They take eons if not millenniums to form because it is literally a living crystal,” Coran said smiling as he could see tears gathering in Allura’s eyes.”But once you find on they are one of the most beautiful sights you can imagine.”

“Coran this is...this is so beautiful, it’s even better than the stories and the books you showed me!” Allura said as she sniffed wiping her eyes but there was a smile on her face as she stared at the Crystal Star in front of her. “Thank you so much...I’m just...at a complete loss for words.”

“This is amazing Coran, we’ve never seen anything like this back home. I doubt we’d be able to,” Shiro chuckled as he walked over to Allura smiling at the Princess who gave a watery smile back but she was too happy to say anything to the Black Paladin.

“It’s amazing it lasted this long with Zarkon running around,” Keith added amazed. “I have to admit it has it’s own unique beauty.”

“Unique!? It’s amazing! Oh man we need pictures no one is ever going to believe we saw something like this in the middle of space!” Lance said as Pidge was already doing so.

“Man when people say inspiration can come from anything they weren’t kidding, I suddenly want to make something that captures how great this star is!” Hunk said ideas flying through his head.

“Wow...I wonder if it has that whole kaleidoscope effect like when you shine light into a prism it breaks it into seven colors,” Pidge asked her eyes full of wonder. "Can we get a closer look? Or see if you can actually do that!?”

Before Coran could answer Gumi let out an excited bark when she saw the Crystal planet and was running around the group jumping and yipping happily, like she was really excited.

“Gumi you like the star too don’t you girl?” Shiro said as Gumi was trying to get a better look at the star and pawed the air making whining noises. “Gumi?”

The light of the star reflected brightly in Gumi’s eyes as memories began flooding back into her mind.

_**Mama…Father…Her sister and brothers…..Crystal caves and shimmering lights…..** _

There was no doubt about it….

Gumi placed her paws upon the window and threw her head back, unleashing a long, joyful howl while wagging her tails about excitedly.

 Lance studied Gumi’s behaviour as a thought suddenly struck him. “Coran...that Crystal Star wouldn’t happen to be…?”

Coran bit his lip in excitement as he hopped on the spot.

Everyone sans Gumi looked at Coran before realization dawned on all their faces as they all drew their attention to the approaching Star.

They’re finally here.

Gumi howled once more in celebration.

 

The Crystal Star….Gumi’s home.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown to the residents of the castle, Zarkon’s fortress was tailing them undetected.

 Haggar could see the Crystal Star flashing in her vision and smiled deviously.

 

The Me-Gumi would be back in the Galra’s hands soon enough…...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> “Aren't you happy Gumi? You can see everyone soon!” Lance said before he stopped, when he came to a realization ” uh guys I think we may have forgotten something, if Gumi goes home to her family how are the Galra not going to get her and her family?”
> 
> Everyone stopped at that.
> 
>  
> 
> “Quiznak…” The others cursed.


	8. The Pack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gumi's finally home!

Gumi could barely contain her excitement as she ran about the castle, down hallways, up vertically on walls and even upside down on ceilings.

She was literally bouncing off the walls.

The Paladins walked towards the hangars watching with bemused expressions at the hyperactive fox that was wisping everywhere and weaving through their group.

“Coran did say most creatures couldn't live on it, makes a good place for Gumi then,” Keith said as he watched Gumi do a back-flip over his head.

“Yeah and all the crystals I saw when Gumi showed me her home makes a ton of sense, I mean if crystals are growing commonly like that everywhere guess it would make sense for it to be a crystal star,” Pidge said grinning watching Gumi dance about.

“I'm just happy and a bit sad we have to let Gumi go now,” Hunk sighed already missing the energetic fox. “But at least now she’ll be with her family.”

“Aren't you happy Gumi? You can see everyone soon!” Lance said before he stopped, when he came to a realization. "Uh guys... I think we may have forgotten something, if Gumi goes home to her family how are the Galra not going to get her and her family?”

Everyone stopped at that.

“Quiznak…” The others cursed.

“Let’s get down to the Star first and figure things out from there,” suggested Shiro first.

The others nodded in agreement as they continued on their way.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The castleship made a landing in a clearing before the Lions moved out, scanning for signs of life.

 _::Woah! You can actually see the core! Trippy!::_  Lance could be heard exclaiming.

 _::I’m more amazed at how there are forests and water sources here! It’s almost like an actual planet!::_ exclaimed Hunk in awe.

Gumi bounded about Shiro’s cockpit, barking excitedly, placing her paws on Shiro’s lap and panting.

Shiro smiled and rubbed her head. “I know girl, you’re excited.”

Gumi beamed back while wagging her tails furiously.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Paladins stood outside their lions gazing at all the greenery that was actually growing on the Star, they could faintly hear some animals going about their business before turning to each other to figure out a plan.

“Okay so we know this is Gumi’s home, what we don’t know is if her family is here or around,” Shiro said trying to scan the area. "So best idea right now is to split up half of us will go into the woods to try and find the family while the others stay here and guard the lions and Gumi.”

“Okay so how do we decide that?” Hunk asked. “Like I’m good for either since it’s for Gumi’s sake.”

“Luckily I grabbed these,” Pidge grinned holding out straws. “I cut them into different sizes so we can decide from there. Obviously Shiro is gunna go explore so we just need to decide between the four of us who goes where.”

“You didn’t fix it so you’d stay here Pidgeon did you?” Lance asked suspiciously. “Because last time at the Garrison…”

“OH LOOK I GOT A SHORT STRAW! Looks like I’m staying here!” announced Pidge feigning disappointment.

Lance just raised an eyebrow and took a straw. Long one, guess he’s going exploring.

Hunk and Keith drew their straws, revealing that Keith will stay back with Pidge while Hunk moves along with Lance and Shiro.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro’s team walked through the crystal forest, taking the sights in awe. Crystal trees surrounded everywhere, light shining up from the Star’s core was refracting through the crystalline ground creating a whole kaleidoscope of colors surrounding them.

“Does anyone else feel really high right now?” asked Lance getting mesmerized while Hunk was a moth to a light bulb.

“OOoh…everything is sooooo SHINY!!!” he exclaimed with twinkling in his eyes.

“Okay one don’t say something like that again, it’s too weird even for you Lance and two it’s more like blinding then feeling like that?” Shiro said shaking his head.”But anyway you know you have to keep your eyes peeled for any signs of Gumi’s family.”

“Got it Shiro,” Hunk said. “I wonder if we could at least get a sample of the crystals.”

“Be a nice souvenir since Coran said this was a rare sight,” Lance said tempted to make a crystal flower bouquet.

“We can worry about that later, focus you two,” Shiro replied shaking his head walking along, though his eyes did stray to a rather pretty pink looking crystal flower.

Unknown to the trio though three silent shadows were following them through the forest.

Formless figures wisped through the trees, their eyes intently following the three unsuspecting Paladins.

Shiro’s instincts began to tingle wildly. Their surroundings had gone quiet. A familiar piercing gaze of killing intent was boring into him.

They were being watched.

“Shiro?” called Lance seeing their Leader tense up.

“Bayards out, guys. We’re being watched…” Shiro said in a low voice.

Lance and Hunk immediately went on high alert as their hands closed around their bayards.

The trio formed a circle, their backs to each other as their eyes darted around.

“Keep your eyes open…no sudden movements,” Shiro said as his arm hummed with energy as Shiro powered it up. “We don’t know who or what exactly is on this planet.”

“Basically shoot if we get attacked, peachy,” Lance grunted as he brought his gun up to eye level as he scanned the forest around them. Hunk had his cannon out as he tried listening for anything.

It was a tense situation as they waited for whatever it was that was following them the whole time. Suddenly the bushes rustled and two shadows leapt from it and Lance moved quickly shooting them as they aimed for Shiro.

“Not today!” Lance growled as he fired.

They disappeared as the shots passed right by them as they turned sharply and aimed for Hunk.

“Hunk!”

“Guys!”

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Pidge and Keith’s heads snapped up from the eye spy game they had been playing to pass the time. Gumi was sleeping by the paws of the black lion whining a bit as she curled up under the shadow of the lion.

“You heard those blasts too right?” Keith said activating his bayard as Pidge did the same.

“Yep, better go help them,” she said.” I think Gumi should be okay here right?”

Before Keith could answer they heard more shots being fired from their teammates and scowled running into the forest with Pidge at his heels.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Hunk was screaming at the top of his lungs as the trio were hauling ass back to base while being pursued by the three spectres.

Lance turned and opened fire once more. The beam shot through one of the spectres and hit a crystal tree causing it to refract into multiple laser beams.

Lesson learnt, never fire laser beams in a place full of crystals.

“OH CRAP!!!” screamed Lance dodging a beam.

“Why would you do that?!” demanded Hunk hysterically.

 _ **“I DON’T KNOOOOW?!!!!”**_ wailed Lance.

“Just keep running and don’t look back!” yelled Shiro, blocking a beam with his arm.

The spectres were only temporarily distracted by the sudden increase of shots but were gaining on them in seconds.

“Guys!!” they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

“Keith! Pidge! RUN!!!!” warned Shiro.

One of the spectres, a dark blue one, spotted Keith and narrowed its eyes before making a straight beeline for the Red Paladin.

“KEEITH!!!” cried out the Black Paladin in horror.

Keith slid to a stop as he saw the spectre coming his way.

Suddenly there was a loud snarl and a flash of white, tackling the blue spectre out of the air.

Gumi had appeared out of nowhere, transforming into her giant battle form, rescuing Keith at the last moment as she now took on the three spectres at once.

Oddly enough, the spectres were not tangible to Gumi’s attacks, as the Celestial fox easily bit into them and clawed them away.

It was clearly an unmatched fight, as the spectres were entangling Gumi and striking her from all sides, but the former Champion of Paraden was not going down that easily.

The Paladins gathered and all watched from the side, transfixed by the battle and unable to do anything but watch.

“Is there seriously nothing we can do?” Lance asked standing next to Keith as they watched the fight. "It’s really an unfair advantage…”

“You saw what happened when you shot at them, the crystals around us really isn’t the best to try and use our weapons,” Hunk grimaced as Gumi let out a snarl and bit down on one of the wisps tossing them into the other before grasping the one that tried to sneak up behind her with her tails and added it to the pile.

The Paladins watched helplessly as Gumi looked like she was winning but not coming out of the fight without injuries herself as she howled when one of the wisps bit her leg before she turned and bit them as hard as she could. She didn’t let up as she snarled and curled up turning herself into a sphere that tackled down the three wisps sending them crashing harshly against several crystal trees breaking a few in half.

Gumi stood panting and bleeding, watching the wisps for any movement she started to relax slightly. At least until one of the wisps lifted up its head and let out a pained cry of help.

The group was very much shocked when two much larger wisps appeared from a wormhole that suddenly manifested in the air above them.

Gumi was caught off guard when the larger of the two wisps tackled the exhausted fox over and pinned her to ground. The fox snapped her jaws but the wisp bore down on her even harder.

The Paladins were completely shocked at how much larger the new wisps were.

They thought Gumi was pretty large in her battle form, but these were as big as the Castle of Lions!

The Gigantic wisp snarled threateningly at Gumi who began to whimper in fright when other gigantic wisp barked.

The wisp that pinned Gumi down ceased it’s snarling and stepped off, allowing the other to slowly approach. This one appeared gentler and more serene as it bent close to Gumi and began to smell her.

The others also appeared curious and got up to circle Gumi as well.

The fox stayed submissive with her ears pressed meekly against her skull.

The Paladins were confused at this display as the wisps circled around Gumi, sniffing every inch of her.

“Are they...smelling her?” asked Keith in curiosity.

All of a sudden, the gentle wisp lay down in front of Gumi and rolled on its back. A gesture of non-threatening, submission to show it was not going to harm Gumi.

Gumi slowly lifted her head as the other large wisp allowed Gumi to sniff her.

Gumi could smell a warm, kind scent. A gentle scent. A familiar scent.

Could it be?

Three eyes appeared in the wisp and  looked at Gumi who stared back with her own.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity until Gumi’s tail gradually began to start wagging one at a time as her eyes brightened up.

The Wisp in front of her slowly began to take on a form the Paladins were very much familiar with as Gumi shrank back down to her normal size.

Before Gumi sat a towering version of herself that gazed down at the fox. It was another Me-Gumi.

Gumi gave a small happy bark.

The older Me-Gumi looked down and barked back as it lay on its belly and gave Gumi a long loving lick.

Hunk began to look excited as he shook Keith and Lance while barely being able to contain himself.

The Paladins watched as the other wisps also began to take shape into other Me-Gumi.

The largest of the group had a large scar on it’s shoulder and appeared as gruff and imposing with more darker blue marking on his coat.he other three were more of Gumi’s size but with variations in coat markings.

One had a fully white coat with an almost ethereal glow about her. The second one had a coat much similar to Gumi’s except he had blue socks marking his paws while the third looked a lot like Gumi except his coat was completely dark blue with white markings.

Pidge widened her eyes in recognition. She had seen them before.

The girl’s eyes grew big as she excitedly started slapping the guys.

“ _Ohmigosh Guys…._ **_Ohmigosh Guys!_ ** **_Oh-My-Quiznakking-GOSH Guuuuuuuys~~!!!”_ ** hissed Pidge practically bouncing on the spot.

“Pidge-OW! What's with the sudden hitting?” Lance asked though he was smiling as were the rest of the paladins.

“Those are her **_family_ **! I remember seeing them in the vision Gumi showed me when she took me to my junk room!” Pidge replied as she continued to whap Lance but was smiling."They really were here!”

Gumi barked happily as she got up and rubbed her head eagerly against the coat of her mother while she was wrapped in her tails getting her face licked.

The three wisps that turned out to be her siblings were yipping and barking happily dancing around them, the father though was staring at the Paladins and made his way over to them quickly making them stand straight. Unlike Gumi, her father's regular size was already imposing. They watched as he stopped in front of them and as if sizing them up.

The Paladins did their best to stand tall until Gumi barked and bounded over to them, circling around the group before sitting in front of them, looking up at her father, proudly showing them off.

Gumi’s father lowered his head and sniffed each Paladin, scrutinizing them individually.

The Paladins flinched when Gumi’s father was finished evaluating them himself before snuffing them and bowing his head begrudgingly.

“I think he likes us…” commented Lance bluntly, earning deadpanned looks from his teammates.

“Kyip~” barked Gumi as she wagged her tails.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Allura’s and Coran’s eyes widened and sparkled upon looking up at the Me-Gumi Pack looking back at them.

“Oh Wow…..” breathed Allura  in awe as Gumi wisped in excitedly with her brothers and sister who encircled the two Alteans before taking form and dog-piling them.

Mama and Papa Gumi lay down looking amused at their cubs while Hunk was already very much near bursting with excitement and cuteness.

“This is the best day of my LIFE!!!” exclaimed Coran almost in tears as he got affectionately nuzzled by Gumi’s sister, the pure white one.

“Oh, you two are so _CUTE~!”_ squealed Allura simultaneously scratching the bellies of Gumi’s brothers.

Gumi’s sister perked up and followed Gumi to Hunk, curling around his legs like a cat before moving aside.

Her sister daintily made her way to Hunk, gently rubbed her head against his belly, making Hunk just melt with glee.

“Awwww~ Puppy~......” cooed Hunk bending down to scratch her neck. “I’ll call you Bianca~!” he declared.

“Kyip~” barked Bianca in approval, enjoying the neck scratching.

Pidge quirked an eyebrow. “You’re really gonna name them?”

“Well how else are you gonna differentiate them?”

Pidge shrugged. “Fair point,” she said when she suddenly received a long rolling lick from Gumi’s brother, the one with the blue socks. “EEW!!”

Pidge rubbed her face to get the saliva off in disgust and eyeballed the fox who looked like he was laughing. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Socks!”

“KYIP-KYIP!” barked Socks, jumping on the spot before glomping Pidge, much to her chagrin.

 _“Lance, help me!!!”_  came Pidge’s muffled cries while the Blue Paladin just laughed.

Keith just folded his arms, standing off to the side as he shook his head when he made eye contact with the remaining brother, the blue one with white markings.

The blue one tilted his head before he walked over and sat himself in front of Keith looking at him expectantly.

“You...want me to name you?” Keith couldn't help but ask.

“Yip.” The blue one replied making Keith scratch his head looking at the others having fun with Gumi’s family.

Well this will be a new experience for Keith since the only thing he really named was his bike if he was being honest.

“Uh...Blue?” Keith started but the fox just snorted.

“Probably using the same name as Lance’s lion isn't a good start.” Keith sighed as he tried to think of a name,”Foxy?”

He got another snort.

“Gummy?”

An eye-roll.

“Urgh….. Sky?”

An un-amused bark.

“Damn Takashi really is right, I can't name shit.”

A happy bark.

“Huh Takashi?”

The blue Me-gumi grinning as his tails wagged and nuzzles Keith’s hand happy with his name.

“Alright then,” Keith said grinning,”Let's tell the others your name,”

They walked back to the rest of the group as the blue fox say rather proudly by Keith who was grinning.

“What's got you so happy?” Shiro asked walking over as Gumi was bouncing around him before being tackled by Socks.

“I named the last Me-Gumi.” Keith said his grin getting wider and Shiro groaned.

“You named him? Oh man what did the poor thing get stuck with?” Shiro groaned.

“Takashi.”

“YIP!” barked Takashi proudly making Shiro deadpanned and look at Keith with an expression that clearly read _‘You little Shit….’_

Keith just grinned the biggest grin any of the others have ever scene.

Shiro felt himself get bumped from behind by a large snout as he looked over to see Mama sniffing Shiro before pulling him in with her paw and snuggling the Black Paladin while Papa looked unamused.

Everyone was enjoying their time playing when suddenly, something caught the attention of the pack as they all perked their heads up and looked to the sky.

Papa began to growl before turning to his pack with a thunderous barking.

The entire pack quickly stood up.

Allura scowled in concern. “Something’s wrong….we have to get out of here….”

“What?!” exclaimed the younger Paladins disappointedly when the entire pack quickly began to run.

Gumi hesitated and looked back at the team with a sad expression before taking off after he family.

Hunk sniffed heavily. “We didn’t even get to say goodbye….”

The roar of a rocket firing suddenly filled the air as a projectile came shooting down and hit the forest, causing the native creatures to scatter as crystals began flying in the air, some heading towards the Paladins.

“GET DOWN!!” commanded Shiro as the group deployed their shields and huddled together, forming a shell.

“The Galra must have followed us! They must be after the Pack!” yelled Allura as they all made a break for the castle.

“We’ll get to the Lions! Allura, Coran?! You do your thing!” yelled Keith as soon as the Alteans were safely inside the castle, allowing the Paladins to head for the Lions.

   
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Gumi ran through the crumbling forest with her family, transforming into wisps.

No...The Evil Ones have found them! They here to capture them!!!

Gumi does not WANT to go back to fight!!!!

Transforming into her battle form, Gumi about faced and fired a quintessence blast into the oncoming fleet of Galra fighters coming straight for the Star before snarling.Gumi was about to take off into the air but was stopped when her father grabbed her tails in his mouth. Her father gave a low grow making Gumi’s ear flatten and whine when she heard a few more blasts only this time they were colorful. She looked up and saw the Paladins attacking the Galra fleet trying to help them get away.

Her father pulled her away but Gumi whine even more trying to get back to the Paladins. She wanted to help them! They found her family and wanted to payback.

Her father gave a harsher pull on her tail dragging her along with her mother who looked worried as did her siblings as they watched their new friends fight the evil ones.

Papa barked his commands, prompting his Pack to keep moving.

The pack leader opened his Eye, forcing open a wormhole, signalling to his family to jump for when suddenly-

**_*ZAP!!!!*_ **

Bolts of Quintessence rained down on them, hitting Papa straight on as he jumped in its path to protect the pack. He howled in pain as the Alpha fell to the ground, paralyzed by the shot of of energy, causing the wormhole to close.

With a flash, Haggar and her Druids appeared before pack, arms raised to cast another spell. The rest of the pack instinctively gathered around Papa and snarled protectively, Mama standing over her mate to shield him as they all flared out their tails threateningly.

Gumi stepped forward and snarled threateningly at Haggar in particular.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Champion of Paraden..” she hissed mockingly, prompting Gumi to snap at her, only to be repelled by a barrier.

Gumi snarled as she gathered energy and blasted the barrier with surprising strength that moved the witch back a few inches.

“So you've gotten stronger, must be from the Paladins... nevertheless we are getting what we came to this whole time we’ve been following you,” she sneered as several Druids teleported and surrounded the group.

The Druids acted quickly and several bolts of quintessence were fired at them, Mama tried to protect her family shielding them with her tail but with the Alpha down it was difficult.

Socks, Takashi and Bianca did their best in trying to help by firing their own quintessence blasts but the Druids seem to expect this as they countered the attacks, overpowering the cubs with ease. Only Gumi seemed to just barely dodge the attacks from the Druids, diving out of the way.Gumi looked back in horror upon hearing panicked yelps of her litter mates to see them being held down by energy ropes along with her parents. They struggled hard, only to be zapped.

Gumi barked for her family, about to rush in when her father gave her a warning bark, telling her to run.

“Do not let that one get away!!!” ordered Haggar  as her Druids ran forward and blasted at Gumi who jumped back and quickly transformed into a wisp, speeding away as the others gave chase.The fox looked over her shoulder to see her family getting trapped in a magic circle and getting dragged away.

It pained Gumi to leave them but she knew there was no way she could take on that Evil Witch and her pack.

She needed help!

Her pursuers stopped to look around having lost sight of the fox.

“Keep looking! It can’t have gotten far!” ordered one of them  as the group separated.

As soon as the coast was clear, Gumi slowly fazed out of one the trees in her wisp form before zooming off.

 _ **‘Must find the Good Ones!’** _ thought Gumi in a panic as she made her way as fast as possible through the forest towards the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter Preview:
> 
> “Five Me-Gumi for one cub? Not a bad trade off..” the witch chuckled darkly. “No doubt Voltron will be on its way here to rescue them along with the remaining cub...then we will have six POWERFUL Legendary creatures AND Voltron to deliver to our King….”


	9. Me-Gumi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evil Ones have Gumi's Pack! Must get them back!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LeoLiddy: It's the final chapter! Enjoy the epic conclusion! JUST WHAT IS GONNA HAPPEN?!

Gumi barked trying to create a wormhole like her dad did to get to the Good Ones as soon as she could.  
  
She couldn’t waste any time risking getting captured or have her family get taken too far where she wouldn’t be able to find them.  
  
 She concentrated, _ **focus!**_

Her Papa said focus is key when using wormholes, you have to know where you want to go, she had to get to the Good Ones before she was captured again!  
  
Gumi started to glow a bit as she thought about going back to the good one’s side as fast as she could, she tried not to jolt when she could hear footsteps getting closer just as a small portal was forming in front of her.  
  
“There it is!”  
  
Opening her eyes she saw it was just big enough for her to shrink and fit through, not wasting anymore seconds she shrunk and dashed through disappearing much to the Galra’s frustration.  
  
Back in the air the Paladins were taking care of as many as the fighter ships as they could but they couldn’t help but feel a bit of a nagging feeling in the back of their heads.  
  
“Guys I know I’m usually paranoid and stuff but does something feel wrong about all this?” Hunk asked as he took out a few more ships with his lion. “I mean sure we’re basically fighting a swarm of fighters but they haven’t tried anything and their huge ship hasn’t moved closer or anything…”  
  
::It’s not just you buddy I got that twisting feeling in my gut…:: Lance replied grimacing.  
  
All of a sudden, the Galra fighters stopped their assault and began retreating. Much to the confusion of the team.  
  
::Alright! They are out of here!!!:: cheered Pidge.  
  
::Something doesn’t feel right….:: they heard Shiro say suspiciously.  
  
At that moment, they saw a small flash appear above them as white figure came falling out of the sky.  
  
Keith being the closest had Red open her mouth and grab whatever it was that was falling. He heard a small yelp and opened the door into the cockpit. Imagine his surprise when Gumi rolled in.  
  
“Gumi!?” Keith exclaimed as the fox whined as Keith quickly got out of his seat, putting Red on autopilot while he grabbed the fox kit. "What happened girl!?”  
  
::Gumi’s there!?::  
  
::What she doing with you Keith she should be with her family!::  
  
::Keith is she hurt!?::  
  
Gumi whined even more making a despairing howl as she looked towards the Galra and suddenly it clicked.  
  
“Guys! I think Gumi’s family got captured and she just barely escaped! That’s why the fleet is retreating! They came here for Gumi and her family!” Keith exclaimed. “There’s still time! We can get them back!”  
  
::I’m scanning the ships now.::  Pidge cursed. ::Dammit!! Keith’s right I’m picking up energy signals similar to Gumi all packed together!::  
  
::Princess did you get all that? We’re changing course and going to rescue Gumi and her family before the Galra leave the system.:: Shiro said as all the pilots followed him to go after the fleet. ::We can’t let them hurt her family. Gumi was just a child but she could do so much the two adults are going to have it worse off.::  
  
::Understood, Paladins make sure the Galra do not leave with Gumi’s family we cannot allow them to have that amount of power or make the family go through what Gumi did herself.:: Allura said in a steely voice.  
  
:: No need to tell us Allura, you don’t mess with family:: Lance growled angrily.  
  
::Ditto to that! Gumi is important and we can’t let her get separated again!!! Especially after getting back with her family after all this time!!::Hunk added kicking his Lion into high gear as the entire team sped off after the Galra jets.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Haggar and her Coven re-entered their lair where the Me-Gumi Pack were all chained down and sealed in special magic circles. Their Third eyes had talismans placed on them, completely rendering them unable to use their powers.  
  
Mama whined for her cubs who whined back frightened while Papa struggled against his bonds, snarling fiercely before releasing a loud yelp of pain from getting zapped by the barrier.  
  
“Five Me-Gumi for one cub? Not a bad trade off..” the witch chuckled darkly. “No doubt Voltron will be on its way here to rescue them along with the remaining cub...then we will have six POWERFUL Legendary creatures AND  Voltron to deliver to our King….”  
  
“Once we have them all in our possession...then nothing, _**NOTHING**_ , will stop Lord Zarkon from ruling the Universe!!!!!” Haggar cackled maniacally in glee at the thought. “Begin the extracting process!”  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
::We need a plan, as much as I would love to go all guns a blazing we all can't do that and risk Gumi or us getting captured:: Lance said as they hovered over by the castle.  
  
::Pidge can you pinpoint or get the general idea where Gumi’s family is ?:: Shiro asked as he tried to come up with some concrete plan, or at least one that wouldn't result in all the foxes getting captured.  
  
::I can get an idea more or less what Gumi would know but that witch could be there too.:: Pidge said as you could hear her furiously typing on her keypad. ::I can get us close since my lion has stealth mode but I think Gumi may actually have to get actually on board to find her family.::  
  
Gumi barked in agreement over Keith’s shoulder.  
  
“Easy girl….” said Keith soothingly, scratching Gumi’s neck. “Looks like Gumi is in agreement. I’ll go with Pidge and play decoy.”  
  
::Alright. The rest of us will help Keith keep them busy.Pidge, be careful!:: commanded Shiro making Pidge smirk.  
  
::Now where’s the fun in that?:: she teased as Keith and her pulled away from the group. ::Release the hound Keith!::  
  
Keith locked eyes with Gumi before pressing his forehead to hers. “Stay safe girl…”  
  
“Kyip!” barked the fox with a nod before transforming into a wisp and flew out of the cockpit, through Red’s mouth and entered Pidge’s lion.  
  
“Activating Stealth Mode…:: announced Pidge as her Lion activated her cloaking device while silently flying ahead.

  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Gumi and Pidge landed the green lion on an empty docking bay the two quickly leaving, as Pidge activated the map she downloaded onto her helmet.  
  
“Okay we’re in, just keep the rest distracted,” Pidge said as Gumi sniffed the air her tails twitching behind her as she took off towards one hallway with Pidge right after her.  
  
::Just don't get caught, there has to be something powerful holding all of Gumi’s family down::Hunk grimaces over the com.  
  
::Twenty GAC says it's that witch of theirs:: Lance muttered as Pidge could hear the sounds of lasers being fired and the roar of their lions.  
  
::Suckers bet:: Shiro and Keith replied.  
  
::But in all seriousness find the family and tell us for a distraction. The less time spent there the better:: Shiro commanded.  
  
“Aye aye captain.” Pidge replied as she kept in step with Gumi. “Ok pup, you know what to do.”  
  
Gumi nodded as she opened her Third eye, focusing on her family, while Pidge kept.

 

* * *

  
**_Her sight travelled through walls and hallways, taking note of its journey for enemies and traps lying in wait._ **  
  
**_Mama….Father…. Brothers….Sister…._ **

* * *

  
  
Gumi concentrated harder. She was getting close.

* * *

  
  
**_There it was. That Evil One’s Quintessence. It gathered strongly in a particular room._ **  
  
**_She could sense them. It was faint...just a little more….._ **

* * *

  
  
Gumi pushed ahead a little more.

* * *

  
  
_**Almost there...almost there…** _

* * *

  
  
 Suddenly, there was a flash of purple energy that lunged at Gumi.  
  
_“Kyipe!”_ yelped Gumi, suddenly thrown back.  
  
“Gumi!” called Pidge in concern running up to the fox who shook herself and rubbed her Third Eye with her paw, whining a little in pain.  
  
“You ok? What happened girl?” Pidge asked kneeling next to Gumi who was looking like she was trying to shake something off.  
  
Gumi whined as she pawed at Pidge and sent an image of what just happened to her.  
  
“Damn, Shiro was right that witch of Zarkon’s would of course be the one to guard them,” Pidge cursed biting her lip. “Makes sense since she can manipulate quintessence.”  
  
::Pidge are you alright?:: Shiro called.  
  
“We’re fine, we have to figure out a way to get Zarkon’s witch away from Gumi’s family she's probably holding them and just waiting for a chance to grab Gumi again!” Pidge replied as she could hear Shiro cursing.  
  
::Dammit...Pidge be careful! Haggar is one of the most ruthless of Zarkon’s followers…::  
  
“We will be...Come on Gumi! Let’s get your family back,” said Pidge.  
  
Gumi, playing off Pidge’s confidence, nodded in agreement as the two ran down the hallways with the fox leading the way.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The two were about to turn a corner when they quickly skidded to a stop and scrambled out of view, just in time to avoid the hallway of soldiers standing alert, waiting for them.  
  
“Quiznak…..” hissed Pidge, quickly wracking her brains for an alternate route when Gumi lightly pawed at the girl’s arm.  
  
The Green Paladin looked at the fox questioningly as Gumi’s Third Eye began to slowly open.

  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The soldiers kept vigilant, having orders to intercept anyone suspicious.  
  
So far, nothing of interest showed up.  
  
Suddenly, the soldiers heard footsteps coming their way, sending them into high alert.  
  
“Halt! Who goes there?!” one of them demanded, only to find two Galra sentries come marching down the hallway.  
  
“Bah...it’s those damn machines again….” grumbled another soldier.  
  
The other soldiers mumbled or growled their sounds of disappointment/annoyance, as the two machines carried on their way.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Pidge walked through the soldiers who moved aside for her stiffly, while Gumi kept pace with her.  
  
She had totally forgotten about Gumi’s ability to form illusions.  
  
Thankfully, Gumi hadn’t.  
  
The fox had currently placed an illusion over the two of them, making the soldiers believe that they were merely the Metal Creatures who tended to march everywhere the Galra went.  
  
Gumi nudged Green One’s hand to reassure her.  
  
Pidge swallowed a bit nervously.  
  
So far so good.  
  
Just a little bit more, and then they would be in the clear.  
  
Pidge was fighting the incredibly strong temptation to power-walk out of there, but she couldn’t risk leaving the illusionary cloak that Gumi had cast on them.  
  
Just a little more….  
  
Just a little MORE!!!  
  
The moment the two were in the clear, Pidge and Gumi quickly ducked into what looked like a supply closet when no one was looking, allowing Gumi to release her spell as the two slumped against each other, sighing in relief.  
  
“Nice one, Gumi~” complimented Pidge, rubbing Gumi’s head making the fox involuntarily wag her tails in enjoyment, accidentally knocking over some crates.

  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Two soldiers walking by jumped in surprise upon hearing a loud crash in the supply room and exchanged looks.Nodding to each other, one of them trained his gun on the door while the other quickly made his way to place his hand on the panel.  
  
“Who goes there?!” demanded the one throwing open the door as the two aimed their weapons only to find the upturned crates that had toppled over along with a broken shelf.  
  
The two soldiers growled in annoyance.  
  
“Ugh...someone really  has to do something about these flimsy shelf brackets! Everything keeps falling apart in this fortress!” grunted one of them as they both re-stacked the boxes.  
  
“You said it...we do not get paid enough for the _galfrak_ we go through, fixing every little thing…” complained the other, dusting his hands as the two continued complaining, closing the door behind them.  
  
Unknown to them, Pidge was being cradled in Gumi’s tails as the fox clung on to the ceiling, keeping them out of sight, making them both release sighs of relief once more.  
  
“That was waaay too close…” whispered Pidge when suddenly she spotted an air shaft and smirked.

  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Gumi had to shrink so she was laying on Pidge’s back as she crawled through the vents of the ship.  
  
“This never gets old, keep moving this way Gumi?” Pidge asked as Gumi let out a small yip that she could feel her family this way. "We still need to come up with something to distract the witch…Shiro barely lasted against her not sure what our chances are.”  
  
Gumi whined but had to agree that it wouldn't be in their best interest to get caught by Haggar who knows that Witch would do to both of them if she caught them.  
  
“We would need something huge...something that would require her attention…” Pidge muttered mentally wracking her brain for ideas. "But what would distract a witch?"

Pidge hummed before she brightened a little. "Hmm hey Gumi… I think I have an idea…”  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Druids stood guard by the Me-Gumi Pack, who were all exhausted, having their quintessence slowly drained by the magic seals.  
  
Large canisters sat by, slowly filling up with shimmering blue liquid.  
  
Haggar smirked as she placed a hand on the glass. “Beautiful...simply beautiful...the Quintessence of a Me-Gumi is certainly in a class of its own…So much...Power….”  
  
Crawling through the walls, spying through a grate, Pidge stared in horror at what she was seeing. “Oh no….” she whispered while Gumi hung to her shoulder whimpering.  
  
Pidge pressed her head against Gumi briefly before exhaling to calm her nerves.  
  
“Ok Gu, do your thing...and stay hidden…” warned Pidge softly, placing the mini Gumi down before she herself shimmied back into the vents and crawled away.  
  
Gumi looked through the grids of the shaft, selecting a specific target and closed her eyes, focusing her energy into her Third Eye which glowed softly.  
  
She had to do this and help her family. The green one was going to try and figure out a way to break the canisters while she tried to get her family free.  
  
Concentrating on the closest Druid she made sure to get into his head completely, the druid jolted a bit but the subtle change made it clear that it was under Gumi’s possession at the moment which hopefully would be long enough for it to work.  
  
“That’s it Gumi...good girl,” Pidge whispered as she watched Gumi controlling the Druid as he started to slowly mess with the seals holding down her family.  
  
Meanwhile Pidge was navigating the ventilation using her screen.  
  
“Let’s see...I should be nearing the power source soon….” she muttered to herself until she finally stopped at a vent  that had light glowing on the other side.  
  
Pidge peeked through the slats to see a giant crystal, similar to the one back at the castle.  
  
“Bingo…” she smirked as she carefully lifted the grate cover and hooked her bayard to the corners before silently repelling down from the ceiling  
  
Pidge glanced around. Oddly enough, there was no one even standing guard.  
  
“Huh, ya think they would post security around their power core of all places…” thought Pidge out loud as she landed near the control station and cracked her knuckles.  
“Now to have some long awaited payback from that time they messed with our power core….” snickered the girl to herself as she got to work opening panels and hot wiring stuff.  
  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Gumi was breathing heavily but she managed to make it to where the seals were draining at a much slower rate thanks to reading the druid’s mind about how they worked. Now came the hard part with releasing them, she hopes the green one did something to get everyone on the ship distracted. The Green One said wait for her signal before trying to free her family, if she tried too early she could get captured.  
  
Gumi shuddered she did not want to go through that ever again. She had to be good and wait for the Green One’s signal. She said she would know what the signal was for her to go ahead.  
  
Suddenly, the fortress shook, sending some of the Druids flying while Haggar herself stumbled a bit and steadied herself.  
  
Alarms began blaring as the witch growled, sensing a foreign presence in the control room.  
  
“Someone is messing with the crystal!!!” ordered Haggar  rushing out with a few Druids.  
  
It was time!  
  
As soon as Gumi could sense Haggar’s presence fading away, she carefully wisped out of her hiding place, transforming and lunged for the remaining Druids, who were caught off guard.  
  
Gumi grabbed one of the Druids and crunched him to death in her jaws before flinging the corpse at another. Her tails lashed out with a vengeance, whipping away more opponents and going in for the kills.  
  
Her family barked their encouragement for the youngest cub who savagely massacred the Druids that remained in the room.  
  
Once the deed was done, the former Champion of Paraden stood above the bodies of the fallen Druids as she threw back her head and released a howl of victory.  
  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Pidge was quickly making her escape by grappling up to the air vent when a bolt of energy hit her.  
  
“AAARGH!!!” screamed Pidge as she got hit, forcing to let go off her Bayard which simultaneously deactivated as she plummeted to the floor, only to be caught and held up by a magic projection of a giant hand that clenched her tightly.  
  
The Druid casting the spell gripped her tightly and brought the Paladin down as Haggar came walking up.  
  
Pidge was getting mighty terrified, but no way in hell is she gonna let them know.  
  
“Hmph...I should have known it was Green Paladin….To think Haxus and Sendak were outsmarted by a mere child…..” spat Haggar distastefully looking down at the girl.  
  
Pidge gave a smirk. “I guess Zarkon’s own men aren’t as tough as you think old Hag.”  
  
Haggar narrowed her eyes. “There is fight in you….I respect that. But don’t think I cannot see the fear dancing in your eyes child...you are stalling…..”  
  
“Oh gee, was I that obvious?”  
  
Haggar’s eye twitched in annoyance. “Perhaps I should cut out your flippant tongue before I kill you brat!”  
  
Pidge’s smirk dropped as the Green Paladin stared Haggar dead in the eye. “Take your best shot…”  
  
The witch growled at the challenge as she charged up her magic, ready to smite their prisoner with the crackling energy when the distant victorious howls of Gumi reached her ears making her freeze.  
  
“No…..”  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Gumi and her family rejoiced at being united again once the fox was able to break the seals on the circles, freeing her pack.  
  
Gumi barked happily, the Green One’s plan worked! It really worked she couldn't wait to…  
  
_***FLASH!*** _  
  
Pidge cried out in pain as she was slammed against the floor so hard cracks were formed.

  
_***FLASH!***_  
  
Gumi stood alert. The Green one! She is in trouble!  
  
She barked to her family telling them to help her find her friend the Green One, her papa nodded.  
  
He went and broke the containers that held their quintessence summoning it back into their bodies re-energizing them. Her mother barked, forming two wormholes and as she barked orders to her pack running into one with Papa while Gumi and the others ran into the opposite one.  
  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Pidge hit the ground rolling as she gripped her side, coughing up blood.  
  
Her bayard reverted back to its original state as it clattered by her side.  
  
Pidge knew she was tough, but her body could only take so much punishment. The girl grabbed her bayard as she struggled to stand, activating her blade once more.  
  
Haggar had left in a hurry with the remainder of of her Coven, save for one Druid who was commanded to deal with the Young Paladin.  
  
The Druid cackled sadistically. “Is this how strong one of the Universe’s mightiest defenders be? BAH! You are nothing more than a child playing a dangerous game!”  
  
Pidge snorted. “Maybe, but this child just set your system to overload in 5 doboshes, so if I were you, I’d start running…”  
  
Energy swirled around the enraged Druid who raised his arms.  
  
“COCKY LITTLE-!!”  
  
Pidge couldn’t help but flinch when suddenly, there was a monstrous snarl followed by a simultaneous sickening crunch and deathly gasp.  
  
The Paladin slowly opened her eyes to see Mama Gumi shaking the now dead Druid’s corpse that lay in her jaws like a ragdoll before tossing him down the pit.  
  
“You guys-WHA!!” exclaimed Pidge as Papa suddenly picked up Pidge in his mouth and started running towards the wormhole that was open with Mama following suit.  
  
“ARRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!” screamed Pidge in terror as she suddenly found herself being warped into the wormhole as she clung on to Papa’s snout tightly.  
  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Meanwhile outside, the rest of the Paladins were giving their all into fighting through the Galra fighters, blasting, crashing, slicing and creating all kinds of explosions.  
  
Allura and Coran had arrived shortly and did what they could to provide cover fire.  
  
“Pidge?! Pidge, Come in!!!” called Keith through his com but all he got was static. “Guys, something’s wrong! I can’t reach Pidge!”  
  
::Don’t starting blowing your mullet, Keith! Pidge is one tough cookie! Have faith in her!:: Lance was heard encouraging as he barrel rolled out of way of a laser blast.  
  
Keith grimaced as he maneuvered Red out of the way from some backfire from some fighters that tried to sneak on him.  
  
“I know I know!” Keith growled as Red let out a roar before melting several ships that tried to surround him.” I can't help but worry!”  
  
::We all are worried Keith not just you but Lance is right Pidge knows what she's doing she wouldn't be sent onto the ship if we didn't think she could handle it.:: Shiro assured.  
  
Keith was about to reply when he suddenly heard a series of barking followed by his vision covered with a lot of fluff making him lose temporary control of Red.  
  
::KEITH!? Are you okay!?:: Hunk exclaimed as Lance flew his lion over to try and balance Red out.:: What happened!?::  
  
::Guys I'm back! We have to get away from the ship it's set to blow up in five- wait…- 2 minutes!:: Pidge’s voice broke through as they saw the green lion escape the large ship. :: I have Gumi’s parents with me!::  
  
::PTOO! And I have Gumi, Socks, Bianca and Takashi here.:: Keith replied groaning spitting out some fur from his mouth.  
  
::Wait what? Why is Shiro in the Red Lion?:: Lance asked.::He's right there!::  
  
Shiro could be heard releasing the most longest annoyed groan ever making Keith release a rare snicker.  
  
::Keith….did you name one of the cubs after Shiro?!:: Lance asked incredulously.  
  
::Technically, he named himself.::  
  
::YOU GUYS!!!! DID YOU NOT HEAR ABOUT THE PLACE GOING TO EXPLODE?!::  yelled Hunk getting everyone’s attention back on track just as a small worm hole appeared with Pidge riding on Papa Gumi’s snout.  
  
The Alpha quickly brought Pidge to her Lion, letting the girl hurriedly scrambling back into the cockpit and firing up Green.  
  
::EVERYBODY HAUL ASS!!!!:: Pidge’s urgent voice came ringing through the comms as everyone turned their Lions and began flying away.  
  
::Allura fire up the wormhole!:: Shiro yelled as the Lions and Me-Gumi parents came flying towards them.  
  
::I’m going as fast I can Shiro, I need more time!!!!::  
  
::We’re not going to make it!!!:: cried out Coran in a panic.  
  
Mama and Papa Gumi looked at each other and nodded as their Third Eyes opened.  
  
The castle began to glow as the wormhole began to form.  
  
::It’s not big enough!:: despaired Hunk looking towards the parents who were already pushing themselves ::And the Gumi Parents are running out of steam!::  
  
Gumi flicked her ears and barked, making Keith glance at her briefly and smirk.  
  
::You guys! Gumi’s got a plan!::  
  
::Well she better hurry it up! We’re down to a minute!!!!:: exclaimed Pidge in a panic.  
  
“You heard her, Gumi!” said Keith to the fox who nodded and turned to her siblings who did likewise.  
  
All at once, the cubs transformed into wisps and flew out of the Red Lion towards her parents while transforming into their Battle Forms.  
  
The Me-Gumi all began to link their tails and glow, their Third Eyes directing their energy toward the wormhole.  
  
_::50secs!!!!::_  
  
The wormhole began to shine as it began to get brighter and brighter.  
  
_**::40secs!!!::**_  
  
_‘Come on Gumi….you can do it girl…’_ Shiro urged silently, watching the wormhole get bigger and bigger.  
  
_**::20SECS!!!!!::**_  
  
The Pack strained themselves, concentrating harder and harder until Gumi suddenly threw her head back and howled long and loud.  
  
Her siblings one by one began to join in with the howling, followed by her mother and finally her father.  
  
_**::10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! -::**_  
  
All at once, a wave of powerful quintessence surged all around, causing time to practically slow down drastically.  
  
_***BOOOM!!***_  
  
There was a muffled explosion as the fortress began exploding slowly.  
  
The Me-Gumi Pack was unaffected by the slow down as they moved ahead, the cubs grabbing the Lions and towing them with their tails while their parents heaved the castle into the now appropriate sized wormhole.  
  
Gumi was only just barely able to enter the hole last when the energy surge finally wore off and everything just instantly resumed its original speed in one quick rush.  
  
_***BWOOOOOSH!!!!***_  
  
The force of the explosion destroyed many of the Galra fighters and smacked right into the Pack and Paladins, blasting them through the wormhole just seconds before it closed.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
The explosion sent everyone careening through the wormhole until they were practically shot out all at once back near the planet Paraden.  
  
“Everyone okay?” Shiro called.  
  
::I'm good:: Keith groaned.  
  
::Peachy keen here:: Lance said relieved.  
  
::Still alive and kicking!:: exclaimed Pidge.  
  
::Slightly, but I’m holding on:: Hunk groaned.  
  
“Princess? Coran?” Shiro asked. “Let's head back to the castle guys so we can rest.”  
  
::I'm just glad we got Gumi back, that was really too close, Pidge are you alright?:: Keith asked as they were hoping their smallest paladin was fine.  
  
::I think I might have some fractured ribs at the worst.:: Pidge said.:: But nothing life threatening just got tossed around most of the time. Come on Puppers,  let’s go!::  
  
The others shared a laugh relieved that the whole ordeal was finally over.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Allura smiled fondly as the cubs played with the paladins happy to be with them especially Gumi who was bouncing from Paladin to Paladin before jumping into Shiro’s arms.  
  
“OOOOF!” grunted Shiro getting plowed over by the energetic pup and finding himself be sent into a roll with Gumi before hitting the soft chest of Mama Gumi.  
  
Shiro lay there giving the cub a bemused look as Gumi lay on him panting excitedly.  
  
The Black Paladin laughed through his nose before he and Gumi looked up at Mama who looked down at them endearingly and lowered her head, giving her child a loving lick before nuzzling Shiro’s head.  
  
Shiro scratched under Mama’s chin as she helped him sit up while picking up Gumi by her scruff and putting her aside.  
  
Gumi tumbled a little but shook it off as she got up and bounded over to Lance.  
  
“This is nice but,” Shiro said standing next to Allura as Gumi’s parents were by them as well watching their kids who all suddenly decided to dogpile Coran, making them laugh.  
  
Shiro gave a sad sigh. “They can’t go back….”  
  
“They need to disappear before the Galra can track them again,” Allura replied sadly.” I loved having Gumi around but it's for the best.”  
  
“But where would they go?” asked Lance walking up with the others, leaving Coran to be tossed about by the cubs in the background.  
  
“The Crystal Star would be tracked again and even right here on Paraden, staying is only a temporary solution,” Pidge pointed out, reaching out to rub Papa’s nose.  
  
“Come on, aren’t we Team Voltron? There’s gotta be something we can do?!” demanded Keith only to have Hunk place a hand of his friend’s shoulder.  
  
“We know that Keith but we don't know the galaxy that well so it's not like we know a good place for them to be,” Hunk sighed as Keith let out a frustrated growl.  
  
The pack looked at each other, at least the parents were the pups excluding Gumi walked up to them and nuzzled Shiro’s hand getting his attention. He looked at the Mama Me-gumi and he blinked when she showed him something in his mind. He saw Gumi’s family wisping and using wormholes to move from planet to planet, they settled for a bit before they moved.  
  
“Shiro?” Pidge asked as their leader patted the mother’s Me-Gumi's head.  
  
“They traveled a lot kinda like nomads,” Shiro explained, relating the visions she was showing him, with his eyes still glowing.  
  
He saw it all.

* * *

  
  
_The ambush on the Crystal Star._  
  
_Gumi getting taken._  
  
_Gumi’s family despairing._  
  
_Gumi’s father desperately searching from planet to planet looking for the cub while Mama stayed home, waiting longingly, becoming heartbroken every time Papa came home, unsuccessful in his search._

* * *

  
  
“They were waiting all this time...They searched everywhere….They could have left, but they stayed back on the Crystal Star this whole time….” Shiro said before gasping one the visions stopped.  
  
Shiro slowly exhaled before turning to the group while Mama placed her head on Shiro’s shoulder.  
  
“Now that Gumi is back with them, there’s no reason to stay in one place anymore…” he said, rubbing Mama’s face.  
  
A wave of sadness washed over the group as Gumi dropped her ears as Hunk knelt down in front of her.  
  
“So...this’ll be the last time we see them? See Gumi?” Hunk asked sniffling before he pulled Gumi into a tight hug. “Oooh….I’m gonna miss you so much….”  
  
Gumi whined as she nuzzled against Hunk before he finally released her.  
  
The fox then padded over to Pidge who was working so hard to hold back her tears as she hugged Gumi as well. The fox licked away the tears at Pidge’s eyes, making the girl laugh a little.  
  
“Thanks for being our friend, girl….” whispered Pidge, kissing Gumi on the nose before letting her run up to Lance.  
  
“You're a good strong girl Gumi, you show your siblings how to fight and protect themselves okay?” Lance said smiling through his tears as he wrapped his arms Gumi’s neck. “Remember family is everything Gumi okay? You have to take care of each other.”  
  
Gumi whined as she licked Lance’s face, cuddling against his chest as she wrapped her tails around him holding him close. Once she got her fill of hugs she walked over to Keith and sat in front of him.  
  
“Gumi I take back everything I said to you, you're an amazing friend and..... I'm going to miss you..... A lot,” Keith said softly as he scratched the fox kit with both his hands smiling at the happy warble he got. “You be safe okay?”  
  
“Kyip!” barked Gumi, circling around Keith before squeezing herself into his arms.  
  
Keith couldn’t help but return the hug, squeezing the fox as he stroked her head. Gumi pressed her nose against his cheek, like a small kiss before breaking apart and heading to the Alteans.  
  
Gumi let out a small comforting warble as she let Coran and Allura fuss over her.  
  
She wrapped her body around Allura and rubbed  her head against the Princess.  
  
“Oh Gumi….I had so much fun with you….I'll miss you~”  
  
Gumi chuffed happily before going to Coran, sitting up on her haunches placed her paws in Coran’s hands.  
  
“It has been a great honor being with you, young Me-Gumi~” Coran teared, sniffing back his dripping nose.  
  
Gumi made a small sound that sounded like a laugh before giving Coran one long lick on his face before slowly turning and padding up to Shiro, sitting down in front of him , looking up at his face.  
  
Shiro’s expression softened as he knelt down. Gumi whined sadly, her tails lying flat on the ground as her ears flopped.  
  
No words were spoken as Shiro slowly lifted his hands and ran them through her soft fur.  
  
Gumi whined again, placing her paw on his chest.  
  
Shiro made a small smile before bowing his head, letting Gumi touch his forehead with hers, her Third Eye opening and glowing.

 

* * *

  
  
_***FLASH***_  
  
Shiro looked around. It was a familiar mindscape. Gumi’s mindscape.  
  
“Leader…” Shiro heard a small voice call out to him.  
  
Shiro turned around to see human Gumi looking at him, holding his hand, about to burst out into tears.  
  
Gumi sniffed as Shiro knelt down to her level, rubbing her head.  
  
“I want to be with my family….but I don’t want to leave you all! Especially you, Leader!” hiccoughed Gumi, rubbing her eyes with her tails.  
  
Shiro smiled as he took the little girl into his arms and cradled her.  
  
“I’m gonna really miss you too but You have to go Gumi…..you’ll be safer with your family,” he gently explained.  
  
“But I can fight too! I am a Champion like Leader! I can help!”  
  
“And I don’t doubt that, but your family needs you more than we do, Gumi. More bad people are going to come for you and your family, they are gonna need you to protect them. Maybe even lead them someday,” said Shiro, making Gumi cease her crying as the Paladin planted a kiss on Gumi’s forehead.  
  
“You’re right, we’re both Champions. And we’re both Leaders. You’ve shown that when you lead your own Pack to save us all. Your family, needs you Gumi.”  
  
Gumi sniffed hard as she threw her arms around Shiro.  
  
“I love you Leader~ I will miss you so much~!!”  
  
_***FLASH!***_

* * *

  
  
Shiro snapped back to reality finding Gumi sitting on her haunches with her paws on his shoulders, hugging him still.  
  
Shiro sighed, returning the hug. “I love you too Gumi…”  he whispered as the two broke their embrace.  
  
“We won’t ever forget you~” he said with a smile making Gumi bark and wag her tails happily.  
  
Papa Gumi barked loudly, calling her over.  
  
Gumi barked back in reply, looking up at Shiro who gave her one last scratch behind the ears.  
  
“When you need us, you know how to find us~” Shiro told her making Gumi give a doggy smile and nod before she ran back to her pack.  
  
Gumi’s parents turned back to Team Voltron and bowed their heads in respect, prompting the cubs to do likewise.  
  
One by one, the pack began to transform in wisps and took off into the air  until Gumi remained, casting one last look to the team.  
  
Drawing her head back, Gumi released one last long howl of goodbye before finally transforming into a wisp and taking off into the air after her family.  
  
Team Voltron waved enthusiastically, watching the Pack fly off.

There was not a single dry eye in sight.  
  
“GOODBYE GUMIIII!!!!!!!! GOODBYE GUMI’S FAMILIA!!!!!” yelled Lance at the top of his lungs.  
  
“COME AND VISIT US SOON!!!” Pidge yelled too.  
  
“I’LL MAKE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SOMETHING GOOD!!!!” Hunk added.  
  
“BE GOOD OK?!” Keith yelled out.  
  
“TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES!!!!!” Allura wished while Coran waved his arms, keeping his brave face on.  
  
“WATCH OUT FOR BAD PEOPLE!!!!”  
  
Shiro wiped a stray tear from his eye before taking a deep breath.  
  
“MAKE ME PROUD, GIRL!!! STAY SAFE!!!!!”  
  
Gumi looked over her shoulder back to the group and barked loudly in reply as she and her family got farther and farther away until finally the Team could no longer see any trace of the Pack.  
  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Elsewhere, the Galra fortress was slowly undergoing major repairs to restore the damage from the explosion.  
  
Meanwhile, Haggar was kneeling deeply in front Zarkon, who was, not surprisingly, displeased to say the least.  
  
“So...we completely lost the Me-Gumi and our fortress sustained significant damage from a single child, forcing us to delay our search for my Black LIon?!”  
  
“I have failed you, My Lord….I have no excuse for my incompetence….” Haggar said, hanging her head in shame.  
  
There was silence as the witch awaited for her sentence.  
  
“Raise your head Haggar….it matters not anymore….What is important is your power...you are vital to my plan. I need you Haggar...” Zarkon said making the witch’s heart soar. “As long as Voltron is still out there...there is no place they can hide from me….”  
  
“Yes.. my Lord... _ **Vrepit Sa…**_ ”  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LeoLiddy: *cries uncontrollably* WAAAAAAAH!!!!! That's the end to our story!!!!!
> 
> Thanks everyone who read this to the end! Love Y'all!


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